Watching You Watch Him
by AStateOfImaginaryGrace
Summary: Set after Stoned. Zoe and Zane conspire to figure out what's going on with Jo.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N- I can't believe I wrote this. I'm a total Jo/Zane shipper... But I wanted to see Zoe find out, so this happened. Though it will be from Zoe and Zane's perspectives, it's really all about Jo (the title and song are from her perspective)._

*NLWps (Null-Weps) = Non-Lethal Weapons

* * *

I love you  
From the bottom of my heart  
And that's not gonna' change  
But things look grim  
When I am watching you watch him

~_Watching You Watch Him,_ Eric Hutchinson

* * *

"Dad, I'm not a child anymore! You can't tell me what to do! I can see who I like. You don't even know him—if you knew him you'd understand why he gets into so much trouble. You are basing this strictly on the fact that he's got a criminal record—"

"Zoe, I'm going to stop you there. Because, despite the criminal record, I do think he's an alright guy. Could be a great guy. And yes, I still think he's a mess, but that's not why—"

"Then what is it, Dad? Is it because he's older than me? Is this some sort of ageist thing?"

"Zoe, I just wish… I wish you could see what it's doing to the people around you."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I—Oh, geez, this is hard to explain."

* * *

"Morning, Vincent," Zoe greeted cheerfully as she entered the café. It had taken some time to get used to real world food at Harvard—between S.A.R.A.H. and Vincent, she hadn't had food that was any less than perfect since before moving to Eureka. Being back here again, she planned to eat as much of Vincent's cooking as she could.

"Good morning, Zoe. You're here exceptionally early today. Something going on?"

Zoe smiled. Some things never changed, like Vincent knowing everybody's habits—and being the biggest gossip in the town. "Actually, I was just meeting Zane. He has to be at work pretty early."

"So, you and Zane, huh? How's that going?" He leaned forward over the counter, dish rag forgotten as he nested his chin in his hands.

Zoe seated herself on the barstool across from him and found her smile growing wider. "It's going. You know, when he started tutoring me, I honestly thought he was flirting with me just to mess with my dad. But then we just… sort of clicked. He's so smart, it's almost hard to comprehend how smart he is."

"And hot, too."

"Yeah, that doesn't hurt anything."

"Speak of the devil," Vincent said, nodding through the café's windows.

Zane was crossing the street toward Café Diem in an easy gate that projected to the world how untouchable he was. The door chimed when he entered, and he grinned when he saw Zoe.

"Good morning, Zoe."

"Good morning, Zane," she replied, already blushing for the attention.

"I'll be back for your orders in a minute," Vincent assured them as he pretended to be flagged down by another table.

"So, why do you have to be at Global so early?"

"Fargo's moving me to a new project," he started.

"Not another stupid, brainless one," she interrupted sympathetically.

"No, I don't think so. It's in Section Five, so it must be something military. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that, but anything's better than NLWps*, right?"

"Or rebuilding that Sky Cruiser."

"Or doing CIT's job for them."

"Or, what was that really bad one? A couple months ago? Cooling gel?"

Zane laughed, though Zoe thought she heard some residual bitterness in it. "Yeah, I couldn't get rid of that slimy feeling for weeks."

"What can I get for you this morning?" Vincent was back, looking at them with eager interest.

"I don't have much time," Zane said. "Just something quick. Maybe a bagel?"

Vincent turned to Zoe. "And you, Miss Carter?"

"I'll have the same."

His face fell, she noticed, at the simplicity of the order. But then he perked up and hurried back to the kitchen, calling over his shoulder, "I've got just the thing!"

Zane and Zoe glanced at each other, and burst out laughing.

The door of Café Diem chimed again, and Zoe turned her head to see who had come in. Her eyes locked with Jo's. She was about to wave her over to join them when she saw the strangest deer-in-the-headlights look on Jo's face. Without a word, Jo turned on her heel and left.

Zoe felt the laughter fade from her face. "That was odd."

"Yeah," Zane agreed, and Zoe saw that he was looking at the doorway Jo had just vacated.

"You know, I think she's been avoiding me these past couple days. Before I came back from school, we had all these plans to go to the spa and shopping and—yeah, girl things," she said at the look on his face. "But once I got here…she keeps cancelling."

"I don't know what to tell you. She's been avoiding _me_ for months."

"Well, that's not _that_ unusual. You two never get along."

"I don't know. A few months ago, she just got really weird and started being nice to me, and then she started avoiding me. I haven't been thrown in jail since then."

"Now that _is_ unusual."

"Hey!"

"I'm kidding, Zane. But really, I am worried about Jo. I thought everything was fine while I was at college, but since I've been back, it's like she's pulling away. She's like my sister. I need her to be okay."

"I had no idea you two were so close. It kind of makes more sense now that your dad invited her to stay with him while her house is under construction."

"Yeah, she's kind of like his daughter. When we got to town, she didn't like him much because he'd gotten her job, but once she saw how he was suited to it, we sort of became her family. She doesn't talk much about her past, but she really misses her brothers. And even by the time we came, she wasn't really close to anyone in town."

"Well, that's more about Lupo than I ever thought I'd know."

"Here's your bagels!" Vincent slid two plates in front of them, with the most complicated looking bagels ever nestled in the middle of an arrangement of fruits.

"I thought we said 'just a bagel,'" Zane laughed.

"That's all it is," Vincent insisted.

"What exactly is in here?" Zoe asked as she took a bite. Of course it was delicious (especially compared to her dining hall's food).

"Ah ah, chef's secret." He left again.

Zoe looked at Zane, who was already scarfing down the food.

"What?" he asked defensively around a mouthful. He swallowed. "I have to be at GD soon."

"While you're there…just…if you see Jo, try to find out what's wrong?"

He snorted. "Seriously? Me? You think she'll spill her deepest darkest secrets to me, the guy she thinks is the ultimate screw up bane-of-her-existence over you, her sister-like friend? Who she happens to be living with, at the moment. Why don't you just ask her at S.A.R.A.H.?"

"She won't stay in the same room as me long enough. Catch her off guard at GD. She'll never expect it. Or, you know…"

"Know what?"

"Hack some security feeds and spy on her!"

Zoe giggled as Zane mouthed wordlessly for a few seconds.

"You think I should _spy_ on her?"

Zoe nodded.

Zane's look of shock turned to one of mischief. "You know, if I wasn't such a curious guy, I'd think you were crazy." Now he looked serious. "I do want to know what's going on. There's been something happening in this town for months, and she's a part of it." In a flash he was back to the untouchable goof-off. "I wonder how long it'll take her to notice she's been hacked."

Zoe grinned. Even if he had his own agenda, Zane was now on board and she would get to find out what was wrong with her friend.

"Okay, I've gotta go." Zane stood and pushed his plate across the counter. The wait staff whisked it away before Zoe had time to blink. "Thanks for meeting me for breakfast, Zoe."

Zoe was practically blushing again. "I'm glad you had time."

"I'll see you later," was the last thing she heard him say before he disappeared into the crowded street.

"So you two looked like you were having a good time," Vincent said conspiratorially across the counter, making Zoe jump. She never did get used to the way he could be everywhere at once.

That blush just wouldn't go away.

"Yeah, we were." Her grin faded a little, remembering Jo. "Vince, do you know what's up with Jo? I can't believe I didn't think of asking you earlier."

"Honey, I've been trying to get it out of her for _weeks,_ but she's locked up tight. Sheriff Carter!"

_Oh no,_ Zoe thought without looking up.

"Hey, Vince. Zoe?"

She cringed. "Hey, dad."

"You're here at," he glanced at his watch, "eight o'clock? And you're _finished_ eating?"

"Yeah, just meeting a friend for breakfast," she hedged.

"At a time when you're usually dead to the world?"

"They had work early."

"I'm not going to have this argument right now. I'm just here for coffee, then I need to get to GD. Can I get a Vinspresso?"

"Right away, Sheriff."

Once Vincent was back in the kitchen, an awkward silence fell over the father and daughter. She could see out of the corner of his eye how he looked resigned. He had that I-know-exactly-what-you-were-doing-but-I'm-not-going-to-say-anything fatherly look about him.

"Dad, I—"

"Not right now, Zoe. Someday I'll… someday you'll know and you'll wish you'd done things differently. Thanks, Vince." He took his coffee and left.

Zoe stared after him in shock. Her father was many things, but cryptic was _not_ one of them. What did that mean? Why wouldn't he just _tell_ her?

"Vince? Thanks for the food. Delicious as usual."

And, still lost in her thoughts, Zoe left the café.

* * *

_A/N-Constructive reviews would be greatly appreciated _:)

_I know this is a shrinking fandom since the show was cancelled, so every reader/reviewer counts!_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N-Thank you so much for the reviews, I really appreciate the time!_

* * *

_Previously… Zane and Zoe meet for breakfast at Café Diem. Fargo is assigning Zane to a new project at Global. Zoe talks Zane into spying on Jo in order to find out why she's been avoiding them. Carter disapproves of Zoe and Zane's relationship, but Zoe, in a fit of independence, doesn't care._

* * *

By the time Zane reached Global Dynamics, he was restless with nervous excitement. He was going to get to work on an assignment that would require actual _thinking. _That hadn't been the case…pretty much ever since he arrived in Eureka. Whatever had happened to change his boss's mind, he wasn't complaining.

To top it all off, he now had an ally in his quest to find out what was going on with Lupo. Whatever had happened to change _her_ mind about him, well, that was a mystery that had been plaguing him for quite some time. With Zoe on his side, he'd be able to learn more about Carter (who he was sure was involved in whatever had happened), as well as Jo.

Finding out that she and Zoe were so close had been kind of a shock. He'd always prided himself on his ability to take in detail, analyze, and find a solution. He'd also thought he'd paid pretty close attention to Lupo. But apparently that one little detail slipped by him. The fact that she had friends…that was a pretty big detail to miss. But her work persona—the Enforcer, he realized, was only a persona—and her personal life were held separately, and only recently had they begun to blend.

Zane made his way through the rotunda quickly, checking his PDA again for the lab number. It was a novel feeling being able to use the elevator all by himself to get to Section Five (_not_ that he'd be telling anybody that). Fargo had given him clearance yesterday. He was buzzing with a kind of excitement he only felt when he was really interested in a project, and this one sounded like it might be worth it.

745, 744, 743, he counted off in his head as he passed them. Just as he was about to turn the corner to find 742, he heard Fargo and Jo speaking. Against somebody else's better judgment, he stopped in his tracks and listened.

"You know, I'm giving this guy a big opportunity. He should be grateful, not late." Fargo sounded pompous as usual.

"He was having breakfast with Zoe at Café Diem. He'll be here soon." Jo just sounded miserable.

And when Fargo replied, he no longer sounded like the tiny dictator. He sounded like an actual human being who was hurting for his friend. "Oh, Jo, I didn't—you don't have to be here. It's not like he's an actual security threat."

"Chief of Security is always present at Section Five scientists' introduction to their new labs. When Mansfield gave me the position, he asked me to keep an eye on this place. Section Five is where the DOD has the most interest, so…" For a minute there she'd sounded exactly like the Enforcer, until she heaved a sigh. "I'll be here for the opening of this lab. Couldn't let Mansfield down, now could we?"

Fargo gave a chuckle. "'When Mansfield gave you the job.' What, did you read that in your diary?"

"No," she said, and she didn't sound amused. "He reminds me of that every time I see him. Which is a lot more often than you'd think. Whoever taught him how to use video conferencing should have to be the one who actually does the conferencing with him."

"Tell me about it. I had a meeting with him yesterday…"

Zane decided they probably weren't going to say anything more revealing (although it was interesting to hear that neither the Dictator nor the Enforcer was as attached to Mansfield as he'd thought) and walked around the corner.

"Finally," said Fargo in a very unprofessional way while Jo stood up straighter. "Are you ready for this?" And just like that, whiny Fargo was gone to be replaced by giddy science-y Fargo. He was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"As I'll ever be," Zane said. He tried to keep his eyes on the door, but they kept sliding back to Lupo. She was studiously avoiding his gaze by staring at the middle distance in front of her.

Fargo thumbed the door open and waved Zane in with a flourish.

"Welcome to Lab 742, Mr. Donovan, home of the DED."

Zane blanched.

"The DED? As in the nuclear electromagnetic pulse weapon?" Suddenly Zane was angry. "Fargo, when you said I'd be working in Section Five, you said I'd be working in my field. That's particle physics, not nuclear weapons. You told me this was going to be what I came here, to Eureka, to do. You told me—"

"I know, and I'm sorry. I didn't actually lie to you, I just didn't…give you the whole truth." Fargo took a steadying breath. "We don't need you to work on the weapon itself. We need you to figure out the interface. The directed part of it isn't going so well right now. Right now, it's more of an undirected, cause problems everywhere device. I need you to program the GPS and tracking systems, as well as the controls and delivery."

"What makes you think I can do that?"

Fargo looked uneasy, which, truthfully, wasn't that uncommon in general, and was even less uncommon since…whatever happened happened. What was unusual was how Lupo shared the same expression.

"Well," Fargo began slowly. He glanced at Lupo for confirmation. "Computer programming is another field in which you excel—"

"As a hacker," Zane and Jo interrupted simultaneously.

"Which makes you a perfect candidate for designing the system," Fargo continued, as though he hadn't heard them. "You are fully qualified to do this."

"Why would I want to? Why do _you_ want me to?"

"You want to because once you finish this, I'll let you into the project you've been dying to see since you first learned Eureka existed." Fargo looked smug, as though there was no way Zane would be able to refuse this offer. "Do you remember a few years ago—well, you would have been in prison, and stuff like this doesn't leak out, but, anyway. There was an experiment called the Big Bang."

Fargo was right—there was no way Zane could refuse this offer. Zane was once again surprised. How did these people keep doing this to him? He nodded mutely.

"We didn't have a particle physicist at the time—we were searching for one—but then Dr. Stark…passed away, and the data was left mostly untouched. We have a particle physicist now."

"Are you saying that if I finish this weapon, you'll give me the data from the Big Bang experiment?"

"Try not to sound so shocked, Zane," said Lupo. "It's why you were hired in the first place."

Zane eyed the two of them suspiciously. "I've been here for nearly two years. What's so important about this DED that you're suddenly going to give me my own project?"

Fargo mumbled something and stared at his shoes. Zane saw Lupo suppressing laughter out of the corner of his eye.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I've kind of been dragging my feet on finishing this, and you're the best—and fastest—programmer we've got. Mansfield wants it done soon. As in finished-by-the-end-of-next-week soon. And I may have promised him that it would be. Finished."

"You've been dragging your feet?" Zane asked. But as soon as he said it, he understood. Fargo didn't like the idea of this weapon any more than he did. But the Big Bang…that was way too good to pass up. That was beginning-of-the-universe, chance-of-a-life-time big. If the military wanted some stupid weapon that they'd never use because it was way too dangerous, he'd do it if it meant he could get his hands on that data.

Jo stepped toward him. "Zane, are you going to do it or not?"

"I—yeah, yeah. Next week, you said? How many people do I get?"

"Anybody that's already here. They know the device quite well by now." Fargo waved his hand, indicating the scientists seated at lab stations on the periphery. Zane only now noticed all the other people in the room. He'd been so distracted, first by the outrage at working on the weapon and then the excitement of working on the Big Bang, he hadn't even noticed the device in the middle of the lab.

Code was already forming in Zane's mind as his eyes swept over the room again. His station, to the far right of the room, was already set up with multiple monitors and access pads.

"We'll leave you to it, then. Please keep me updated. I don't want to stall Mansfield any more than I have to."

"Will do."

"And try not to cause any trouble," Lupo added as she followed Fargo back into the hallway. "I know you haven't had a permanent lab station in a while, but remember: I'll be watching."

_Watching._ Oh, crap. How was he supposed to keep tabs on Lupo if he was racing against a week and a half deadline?

He'd just have to work out a way to do both.

* * *

_A/N-This chapter didn't turn out how I'd originally planned. It had a lot more Fargo and a lot less Jo than I thought it would. I think this is due to the fact that Zane's attention is split between Jo and the Experiment, whereas Zoe is mostly focused on Jo (and Zane). The next one will have lots of Zoe, though! Promise._

_Any confusion? Leave a review. Comments? Leave a review. No opinion at all? Leave a review._

_~Thanks for reading!_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N-Thanks so much! You guys are so nice :)_

* * *

_Previously…Zane agrees to work on the DED project in exchange for access to the data from the Big Bang experiment. He must find a way to balance finishing this project quickly and hacking into GD's security system in order to spy on Jo._

* * *

Zoe stepped out into the sunlight feeling refreshed. The auditorium had been dark except for the bright light of the projector. While she didn't want to spend her entire vacation doing schoolwork, the lecture she'd just attended had been very interesting. At Harvard it was sometimes easy to forget that out on the west coast there was a high school full of students that were probably smarter than her professors, and teachers who knew even more than their students.

She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket—the one she had bought out in the real world because Eurekan PDA's only worked on the closed network—to check the time. She had the rest of the afternoon free. Her friends that hadn't gone away to college yet would be in classes until 3:30, and her father was off dealing with a lawn dispute gone wrong (the things these scientists came up with to mess with their neighbors' yards—it would put middle school camp councilors to shame).

Zoe decided that the best way to spend her time would be to concentrate on gathering information about Jo. She'd already asked Vincent—and if he didn't know, nobody in town would. But she might be able to find something in the old records.

She made her way toward the Sheriff's office, relishing the feeling in the air. She'd been back about a week now, but the feeling remained novel. There was a different feeling to the air of the west coast; it felt like home. She would be glad to go back to school in another two weeks, but for now she would enjoy this.

She entered the office and was met with the sight of Andy, leaned slightly to the side, face frozen in a disturbingly cheery smile. _Must be charging,_ she thought. Well, that gave her more freedom to look around, anyway.

With Andy frozen and his back to her, she sat behind her father's desk and woke up his computer. It wasn't password protected. Apparently there was no point when about a third of the population could hack in anyway.

The desktop was a photograph from when she was younger. Little Zoe was holding a balloon and had a huge smile on her face, grinning at a funny face her dad was making behind the camera. She remembered that day. She was seven years old, and he'd come home after a long case that had taken him as far as South Dakota. He never told her about his cases, but she'd later suspected that that one had been about a lost child. They'd still been a family then—her dad, her mom, and herself. The three of them had gone to a theme park, and when she'd gotten scared on a ride that was too tall and too fast for her, her dad had hugged her and carried her and bought her that balloon. By the time he took the picture, she was all giggles.

It wasn't until she was twelve that she began to question his frequent absences. She knew that most of the kids had two parents who were always there for them, but a lot of them also only had one parent. She was the only one with a parent that routinely disappeared for weeks, though. She'd understood that it was his job, but it upset her at the time. She realized now that she had wanted to be his priority—that she wanted him to come to all her plays and recitals and birthday parties, and she resented him when he didn't. She got that once they moved to Eureka. They got along now—they were friends. But for the first two-thirds of her life, she'd missed that.

Zoe smiled to herself and looked at the other photos he had framed on his desk. One was of the two of them on a camping trip they'd taken last year. Another was of Allison, Kevin, Jenna, and Jo at Café Diem. The last was of his parents and brothers, from a long time ago—it might have been from before she was born. She was glad that she had so much family, especially the one they'd made for themselves here in Eureka.

A noise in the corner drew her out of her thoughts. For a moment she thought Andy was going to wake up, but he settled back into stasis after twitching a few times.

Zoe went back to the computer. She pulled up the employee records and found Jo's name. As she began reading, she realized this file might not contain the kind of information she was looking for, but might still be interesting.

Josefina Lupo, hired by Sherriff Cobb about three years before Zoe and her father moved to Eureka out of the Army Rangers Special Forces, following her honorable discharge due to injuries sustained in Afghanistan. Three brothers, all older, a father, deceased mother. All of them in the military. Recommendations from her commanding officers and a professor at West Point. Graduated top of her class, excelled in marksmanship and weaponry.

All these were things Zoe already knew. She moved onto the incident reports and arrest records.

It was pretty standard stuff—for Eureka—involving incidents with scientists vs. Eureka, scientists vs. other scientists, and scientists vs. their experiments. Then, about two years ago, there was a spike in the arrest rate. Every single extra arrest belonged to Zane. Soon after the spike, the arrests stopped. That was when she'd been hired for GD security. Zoe figured those records would be in GD's files, but there was no way she could get at those.

That was also when Jo moved across town to Coriolis Loop. Of course, she wasn't living there now, because the house had been blown up. But she would move back there as soon as it was rebuilt. Since there was no actual scientific discovery at the site, construction had been moving quickly. Zoe knew that both her dad and Jo wanted their own space, but she was also pretty sure they'd secretly miss each other.

Andy buzzed again, and this time he stood up straight. He turned around, and looked mildly surprised to see Zoe.

"Hello, Miss Carter," he said with a smile. "What brings you here today?"

"Oh, I was just seeing if my dad was here," she lied easily. She surreptitiously closed out the file and put the computer back to sleep as she spoke. "But I guess he's not."

"No, he must have been called out on an emergency while I was charging," Andy said. "He left the door unlocked?"

"Yeah, he did. I'm sure it's fine. I'll just be going now."

She hurried out, leaving a slightly confused Andy behind.

Out on Main Street, Zoe's phone rang. She answered with a cheerful, "Hello?"

"Hey, Zoe." It was Zane. He sounded hurried. "Fargo assigned me to a new project—that he wants done in ten days. That's going to impede my hacking progress a lot. I'm sorry. I know you're going back east soon after that, and—"

"Hey, don't worry about it. We'll figure it out before then. I looked up her records in the Sherriff's office—" Zane snorted, "—but I didn't find anything particularly useful. Except that she arrested you a_ lot_ when you first got here."

"When I first got here? She did it way more once she started working at GD. But she hasn't for a while now. I don't know why."

"Have you been doing anything differently?"

"I don't think I have. Maybe when everybody around you changes, you change without noticing, I don't—"

"When everybody around you changes? What are you talking about, Zane?"

She could practically hear the _Oh, crap,_ in his voice when he replied, "Uh, Zoe, I have to go. I'll call you later." And he hung up on her.

What the hell?

* * *

_A/N-I'm sorry I missed last week. Disease (or, at least, a cold) + School + Life = not enough time to write. Anyway, this chapter, as the ones before it, didn't really turn out as planned, but... oh well. I think I know where I'm going. The random, not really relevant younger Zoe story stems, I believe, from my current, subconscious love for loving father/daughter moments (#SaveAlexis). _

_Also, as much as I dislike Zoe/Zane (as well as the confusing Zane/Allison) I _hate_ (hate hate hate) Carter/Jo. Just my opinion, feel free to disagree, but, seriously, I really don't like it. I _do_ love the Carter/Jo father/daughter brother/sister best friends mixed vibe that they have, and I think the romantic pairing kind of ruins all that. So, rant aside, that's not what I was getting at when I said they'd miss each other. Ahem._

_As always, I really appreciate your reviews (and favs/follows, but really, reviews!) and time. They make my day!_

_Also, if there are any grammatical issues that make it awkward, please point them out so I can work on making it better! This chapter especially gets a little wordy, I think, so let me know if sentences don't read well. Thanks~_


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N-You guys even read my ranty A/Ns! Thanks!_

* * *

_Previously…Zoe goes snooping in Jo's records from when she was Deputy, and discovers her love of arresting Zane for little things. Zane tells Zoe about his new project that will slow down his progress in spying on Jo, and lets slip that something changed a while ago._

* * *

Crap.

He hadn't meant to say that. It was what he'd been thinking, but it wasn't supposed to make it as far as his mouth. It was all very well to let her know that things were off—they always were in Eureka. But he didn't want her thinking the thoughts that he had in his head; that not everybody was who they said they were. Including her father.

Zane sighed and turned back to the computer. He'd made progress that morning, on the project. The DED. _The things I do for science…_ he thought, but he knew it was a lie. He needed to satisfy his own curiosity. The way the world worked, why things were the way they were… why people were the Enforcer one day and Jo the next.

That was why he found himself alone in the lab while everybody else was at lunch. He was planning on giving himself access to GD's security camera network while the other lab workers were away, but apparently things had changed since the last time he tried this.

During his first week at Global, Zane had hacked his way into the system and left himself a back door to regain access whenever he needed it. He'd used it a few times—mostly to escape the wrath of Lupo after a particularly big prank, but then somebody in CIT or programming or security discovered it and shut it down. He'd hacked in again (they hadn't made many changes) a few months later, but he stopped relying on the cameras and started using more shortcuts.

As he searched through the access logs, he realized that the second door was no longer there—but he hadn't expected it to be; that was more than a year ago, and the system was checked quarterly. And the computer guys here weren't idiots, he admitted to himself.

In fact, a lot had changed since the last time he tried to hack in. This was going to take some time. Time he didn't have, if he wanted to finish Fargo's pet and get Zoe's help figuring out Jo.

He set to work, thinking, _Looks like I'm packing my lunch tomorrow._

* * *

By the time Zane made his way into Café Diem that night for dinner, his shoulders were aching and his eyes burned. He hadn't spent that much time in front of a computer since before Eureka. Dark lines of code swam in his vision as he took a seat at the bar and asked Vincent to surprise him.

While he waited, he turned around and leaned against his elbows on the counter. He watched the people mill around the café, talking and laughing and enjoying their late dinner together. Acting like a community, and a close-knit one at that.

Hadn't that been one of the first things Carter said to him when he arrived? Carter, tasked with rehabilitating the felon. _If you'd stop being a selfish jackass for more than five seconds you might discover that you could be a part of something. A community._

_ What makes you think I give a crap about finding a community? _Zane had asked.

_Because we all do. And you're smart enough to know that._

Well, Zane had found his place in this community, and it was as the outcast. He didn't need the approval or acceptance of these stuffy scientists. They were just like all the teachers in grade school, or professors at university, or law enforcers all over the country. He didn't need to be a part of them. He didn't. He'd been fine on his own before, and he was fine now.

Deep down, he cursed Carter for being right.

"Here's your order, Zane." Vincent slid a plate across the counter and Zane turned around.

"Looks good," he said, a little half-heartedly.

"And this," Vincent added, pushing a glass at him as well. It was filled with cloudy, greenish liquid.

Zane eyed it. "What is that?"

"It's my own special recipe—for energy. You looked like you could use it. I know it looks awful, I just haven't had the time to fix that yet. Believe me, it'll get you back up and running in no time."

"Thanks," Zane said, and then, because Vincent was still watching, took a cautious sip. Luckily, it tasted nothing like it looked, and was tolerable. Zane had been planning on downing several cups of Vinspresso before returning to work, but if this would get him through he'd deal with the color and texture.

Vincent smiled and turned away, greeting the next customer to come in.

Zane looked at the meal Vincent had given him. Some kind of meat—he wasn't sure he cared what kind, at this point—and far too many vegetables. Zane had noticed this trend; Vincent would give him what he wanted, as long as he was allowed to force healthy food down his throat as well.

Apparently Vincent also kept track of which nutrients people were lacking.

Zane stabbed a piece of asparagus with his fork, thinking he might as well get it over with, when a new group entered the café. Maybe it was the felon in him, or maybe they really did project some kind of law-vibe, but he knew instantly that it was Carter and Lupo who had walked in. With them were Kevin, Jenna, and Fargo.

They took over a recently vacated table in the middle of the room.

Their voices stood out against the gentle conversation of the crowd to Zane, probably because he heard them more often than any others. He'd spent enough time in Carter's cell, and Jo's cell, and Fargo's office that they were easily the people he'd spent the bulk of his time with in Eureka.

"So what _were_ you doing at GD this morning?" Jo was asking Carter. "You came in at eight fifteen. Any particular reason?" Zane could hear the sly grin in her voice as he pushed an asparagus tip through some sauce.

"I was just…"

"I know I gave you permission to be on the premises, Sherriff Carter, but that doesn't mean you can just be there whenever you want." Fargo was laughing too.

"Guys, I—"

"Dude, why don't you just get it over with?"

"Kev…"

"Jack," Kevin mocked.

"I deny all knowledge of what you're talking about," Carter said quickly as Vincent approached their table. They placed their orders, and as soon as Vincent was out of earshot Fargo started up again.

"Let's see. We know you were at GD at 8:15…who do we know who starts work at 8:30 every day?"

"You know, I don't think she's here right now," said Lupo.

Carter finally stood up for himself. "No, no she's not, but I did promise her I'd look after her children until she finished treating Dr. Sloane. She should be here any minute now."

"Man, you're no fun," Kevin complained, but it was still in teasing.

"Speaking of which, where's your kid?" Fargo asked. "We're supposed to have Idol night before she goes back to school."

"That doesn't start for four months," Jo argued.

"Yeah, we usually go over some of the old seasons," said Fargo. Zane was vaguely annoyed that Fargo had time for "Idol night," while he would have to work forty hours of overtime over the next week and a half. His annoyance was tempered by the fact that he could sympathize—if he had somebody he wanted to spend time with who'd only be here for two weeks, he'd spend the time if he could.

"You're not going to start whining about how eye-patch guy should have won, again, are you?"

"Carter, that was me," Jo corrected him. "And that was a different show. And he _should _have won."

"He was pitchy."

"He had good stage presence."

"That doesn't make up for lack of talent."

"It can. Look at—"

Their discussion was cut short by Allison joining the table.

"What're you talking about?" she asked.

"Eye-patch guy."

"Ooh, he was sexy."

"Mom!"

"Okay, alright. I'm sorry, honey."

"How is Dr. Sloane?" Carter asked.

"He'll be fine. He'll think a little bit harder next time before he decides to challenge the laws of thermodynamics to get back at his neighbor."

Zane made to pick up another forkful, only to discover that his plate was empty. He stood and looked around for Vincent.

"Thanks, Vince," he called across the room. He received a smile and a nod in return. He went out into the dark street, just barely stopping himself from wondering why he couldn't have…friends like that. At least Zoe treated him like a human being.

Zane returned to Global Dynamics to continue his work on the DED.

* * *

_A/N-It's good to hear that I am not alone in my love of Zane/Jo and hatred of Zane/Zoe and Carter/Jo. Don't worry, we're getting there. Wednesday (in story time) is finally over!_

_The conversation between Carter and Zane is from Zane's intro ep, _E = MC...? _I believe Eye-patch guy is from _Crossing Over_._

_Coincidentally, do you prefer I reliably update on Sundays? Or just whenever I finish a chapter? Also, rating? I have it set to K+, and I don't use any language stronger than the show, but does it need to be higher?_

_Please review, they really do help!_


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N-Thanks for reading!_

* * *

_Previously…Zane discovers GD's enhanced security program that will make hacking in take that much longer. He questions if he doesn't want a proper place in this town, after all._

* * *

"Good morning, Zoe," S.A.R.A.H. said when Zoe descended the stairs into the living room. "Would you like some breakfast? Jo is in the kitchen. Your father is still asleep."

"Yeah, thanks, S.A.R.A.H."

"There's a plate for you on the counter."

Zoe rounded the corner and saw Jo already sitting at the island, dressed for church.

Jo looked surprised to see her.

"You're up early."

"I wanted to see you before you left." Zoe picked up her plate and moved to sit next to Jo.

"Sure, what's up?"

Zoe hesitated. Jo was strong, but she could be skittish. With the way she'd been acting lately, she didn't want to scare her off. "We haven't had a chance to take that shopping trip yet, and I thought since today was your day off…"

"You know, that sounds perfect. I haven't seen enough of the outside world lately. Want to go up to Portland?"

This was quite a different attitude than Zoe was expecting, and she quickly agreed.

"I'll be back around eleven. We'll have lunch there?" Jo asked.

Zoe nodded, and watched as Jo cleared her dishes to the sink and left the bunker.

Well, that went better than expected.

* * *

While she waited for Jo to come back, Zoe camped in the living room. She was sitting on the inexplicably white couch (seriously, her dad was not a clean person. How did this couch stay so clean?), scrolling through old photos on the wall-screen. Though a few were from her early childhood, most of them were from her time in Eureka. She was paying the closest attention to the ones that depicted the former deputy. Not the ones that showed her in the fore-front, but the ones where she was in the background, unaware of the camera.

_Great, I'm turning into a stalker,_ Zoe thought. But she brushed it off in the name of discovering what had happened to her friend.

The pictures revealed very little. There was Jo, going about her usual Jo-like business. From very serious in the face of security risks to laughing in the background at a party, there was nothing to indicate that something went wrong. Except—

There were fewer photos in general from the time since Zoe left for college—she was pretty sure her dad didn't know how to work the camera in his PDA—but the town archive had photos from public events. She found Jo in a few of them, but she did not appear as frequently as she had before.

In this photo, taken at the launch at the beginning of Space Week, Jo was staring off into the distance, her expression one that had become familiar to Zoe in the past week. It was a look that hadn't appeared in any of the pictures before. Zoe quickly found several more pictures, and although Jo still went about her seriousness and laughing, neither one quite seemed to reach her eyes.

Jo returned at eleven, as promised.

Zoe was on her feet in a flash, the remote clattering on the side table as she dropped it after turning off the screen.

Jo looked at her quizzically, but said evenly, "I'll just get changed and then we'll go, okay?"

Zoe nodded at her retreating back. Looking at pictures wasn't a crime, it really wasn't. But now she had proof, concrete (digital) proof that something happened a few months ago. Why wouldn't Jo tell her?

Once on the road, Zoe began to feel normal. This was just like old times. Jo was wound a little tighter than usual, but they were laughing together over Eurekan misadventures and college experiences. Zoe felt like she had her sister back.

They stopped at a small diner on the main street of a town that was even smaller than Eureka. Called simply "The Depot," and known best for its delicious strawberry pie, it was a grimy little establishment that captured the essence of "diner" perfectly. It was an old tradition of theirs to go whenever they drove to Portland for the day. Its strictly un-Eureka-like atmosphere and food made it the perfect escape when things at home got a little too weird.

They sat at a table next to a window to eat (though it was lunchtime, the restaurant had only six other patrons, four of them seated at the counter). Once the waitress had taken their orders and they were settled, Zoe broached the topic she had most wanted to discuss with Jo (besides what had happened several months ago, because there was no way she was going to ask about that outright); Zane.

"So, you know there's this guy I've been seeing," she began.

She could see Jo fighting to stay relaxed. "Zane, yeah."

"What do you think? I mean, he's great, but he's here and I'm there. What do you think about long distance relationships?"

There was a long pause while Jo collected herself. "I think they can work. You just have to…stay in touch. Connect." It was like she had to force out every word.

"I've heard horror stories, but he's so…perfect. I mean, I know _you_ hate him, but when you're on his good side and not arresting him all the time he's funny, and smart, and sweet, and—"

Zoe realized she was being a bit sappy, but she didn't think it warranted the reaction she got from Jo. Really, she was in her honeymoon stage of falling in love. Didn't she deserve to be sappy?

"Can we not—I'm sorry. Can we just…not talk about boys today?" If Zoe didn't know any better she'd think Jo's fists were white under the table. "I _really_—I just need to think about something else."

Taken aback, Zoe nodded. "Sorry, Jo. Do you want to talk about it?"

Jo shook her head.

Zoe knew that Jo had never had the best of luck with guys. As she'd said upon first meeting her, the bad girl image tended to scare people away. Otherwise there had been a robot, a crazed ex-military experiment, and… Taggart.

Zoe was confused. Jo had never held back on telling her about her relationships, or lack thereof. At the same time she had never begrudged Zoe her romantic success. Was Jo unhappy simply because Zoe was happy? That didn't seem right. It must be something else.

Zoe thought briefly of the change. Perhaps these oddities were related?

As lunch wore on and she became more and more assured that Zoe was going to let the subject drop, Jo relaxed. Once again, it was like having the real Jo back.

After paying for their overly greasy food and pie, they stood to leave. Before they got to the door, a man walked in. It was someone Zoe had seen a few times since coming back for break, but didn't know by name. Jo seemed to know him fairly well.

"Dr. Grant," she said, sounding surprised. "What are you doing all the way up here?"

"Just getting to know the lay of the land, Ms. Lupo,: he answered easily. Zoe got the feeling he was lying. "To be honest, I was beginning to feel a bit cooped up."

Jo seemed to agree, so Zoe let it slide.

"How is the food here?"

"It's great—nothing like Vincent's. You should try the strawberry pie."

He looked at her. "You must be Sherriff Carter's daughter."

"That's me. Zoe. Nice to meet you…?"

"Charles Grant. Historian."

"GD historian. Huh. Sounds interesting. That place must have all kinds of history."

Zoe didn't miss the look her elders shared, but she couldn't figure out what it meant.

"Yeah," he agreed without looking at her. His eyes were still on Jo. "All sorts of history. If you'll excuse me, I need to be going." That seemed to be a dismissal, because he brushed past them and sat at the table the waitress had just cleaned.

Zoe looked at Jo, who only shrugged and led the way back to her car.

"He's like that," Jo explained. If you could call it explaining.

* * *

Shopping was perfect, and Girl's Day Out continued into S.A.R.A.H that night. They sat on the floor in front of the couch, watching the re-air of a baseball game while they performed home manicures and pedicures with the kit Zoe had received as an apology from GD's spa.

They were half way through Ferris Bueller's Day Off (a movie Zoe thought would be safe) when Jo's phone rang.

"Sorry, Zoe, there's a security breach in Section Two. I have to go. I've had a lot of fun though. I hope we can do this again before you go back." With that, she hurried out of the house.

Zoe stopped the movie, hoping to finish it when Jo got back, but she did finish the last nail on her left hand. It was almost dry when her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Zoe, I think I found something." It was Zane. He sounded excited, but his voice was quiet and strained, just above a whisper.

"What is it?"

"I found—uh, Zoe? I have a problem."

There was a loud crash, a crack as the phone was dropped. Then—

"What the hell, Zane?" came through the speakers.

The phone went dead.

* * *

_A/N-Though Stoned is heavily implied to go straight into The Ex-Files, for the purposes of this story there are about two weeks in between. Grant meets up with Beverly several times before the DED test._

_This chapter started out as "...Zoe does things for fifteen hundred words," but it actually turned out to be pretty relevant!_

_I think I see a pattern emerging...Zoe likes to look at pictures and Zane likes to make cryptic phone calls at the ends of chapters._

_Please review. I'd really like to improve, but to do that I need to know what's working and what's not. Thanks :)_


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N-You guys really are very kind. You make my day ^^_

* * *

_Previously…Zoe and Jo take a road trip to Portland and run into Dr. Grant at a tiny diner in a small town. Jo refuses to discuss Zoe's love life. A security breach in Section Two pulls Jo away at the end of the night, and a phone call with Zane leaves Zoe concerned for his safety._

* * *

Zane groaned and stretched, regretting the movement immediately. He was slumped in a chair, his feet hanging awkwardly over the arm and back of another. He picked his head up, biting back a yelp as a knot in his neck cracked. He extracted his feet from the other chair and placed them on the floor. Gingerly, he rolled his shoulders and stood.

The lab was empty.

He checked his watch and groaned again. Seven thirty, Sunday morning. He'd slept the entire night at his station in GD. Everybody was working overtime on this project, but nobody else seemed quite as concerned about the deadline as he did. They'd also had more than a year's head start, and didn't have the incentive of Big Bang data. With only six days left, he knew he'd be spending most of his time in GD.

Zane shuffled on stiff legs first to the bathroom to fix his hair and then to the cafeteria.

Global Dynamics was a busy place than employed the majority of the town's 3,000 residents. At any given time, more than a hundred scientists might be running constant-watch around-the-clock experiments, so the cafeteria was always open and staffed, even on weekends.

Zane had gotten to know the early morning worker (a young man in his twenties studying under Vincent when not working at GD) very well over the past few days and was pleasantly surprised when his preferred breakfast was already waiting for him.

"Gee, Dave, how'd you know what I wanted?" he joked.

"Same as you've ordered for the last three mornings in a row. You know, I'm learning how to be a chef from the best chef in the country. I could make something a little more exciting than 'bacon, eggs, and toast, please.' Make you wake up a little better?"

Zane grinned. He wasn't opposed to trying new food—in fact he was all for it. But not at seven thirty in the morning. "Maybe tomorrow, Dave."

"You said that yesterday."

"Well, maybe I would've ordered something different. But you already had this lovely meal prepared. How could I say no?"

"_Would_ you have ordered something different? There's still time." His voice took on that eager quality that Fargo's got when he was about to geek out. "I would totally eat this, if you wanted to order something else. I know what would be perfect, I'll just go and—"

"Maybe tomorrow, Dave. I've gotta get back to the lab." With a nod of thanks, Zane took his plate to the coffee station, found the biggest cup he could, and filled it with the most caffeine-filled beverage available.

He carried both plate and cup back to the DED lab, and settled in to wait for the rest of the team to arrive.

* * *

By eight o'clock that night, Zane was exhausted. He'd spent the entire day in GD, and most of that in Section Five. The few times he'd been out were keeping him sane.

He typed a series of commands into the prompt line, and waited for it to run. He leaned back and closed his eyes. About half the other scientists were still there, flitting around the machine in the middle of the room like hummingbirds. He let the drone of conversation wash over him, and was nearly asleep when a beep startled him upright.

He stared at the monitor. What did that mean, System Error? He was working off GD's company-wide system; it didn't just go down. It had backups for its backups for its backups.

He leaned in closer, squinting, as though that might make the meaning clearer. Convinced that it really was a failure, he stood. He looked around, dazed. This had never happened before. A computer malfunction this big could put projects behind, out of commission, in danger… Although, if it really was a malfunction that big it would have set all kinds of alarms blaring. Something wasn't right.

He could call CIT, but they wouldn't come until tomorrow morning, no matter how grave the situation. Previous experience told him that. As Fargo had said, he'd probably do it faster anyway.

He pulled Anthony, a tech assistant, aside. "Something's wrong with the computers. I'm going downstairs to try and fix it. I'll be back later."

Distractedly, Anthony nodded. Still staring at his tablet, he said, "Sure, Donovan, see you later." He went back to hovering around the machine with the others.

_Good enough,_ Zane thought. If somebody needed him, they knew where he'd be.

He left the lab, grateful for the opportunity to stretch his legs. He hurried down the stairs, his footsteps echoing through the stairwell, again marveling at how he could freely roam GD with his new access pass. This was either a really big problem, or a not so big problem. He was hoping for the latter.

With his worry building, he was practically running by the time he reached the correct floor. He reached the doors to the computer room, jittering in place as he waited for them to open. Once inside the cavernous room, he froze.

Everything looked fine. The machine was whirring away peacefully, the monitors displaying the readouts from various processes.

That explained the lack of panic and alarms, then.

He walked forward cautiously, wary of anything out of place. A monitor with a flashing red light caught his eye.

The warning sign flashing in the middle of the screen read, "Access unavailable." He looked at the label on the monitor and, surprise, it was the feed to lab 742, the DED lab. It was the only one with the warning label in the entire room.

A thought crossed his mind. This was deliberate. But who would target the DED? Who even knew about it, except the people working on it? The director of Section Five, Fargo, Lupo…that was probably about it.

He had to find the source of the malfunction. That meant—

"Oh, joy," he said out loud. That meant crawling through service tunnels.

* * *

He knew the service tunnels well. He'd used them extensively early on in his GD pranking career. Lately he'd had little need of them, but it was good to know he still remembered which ones led where. He knew which ones were big enough to stand in, and which ones required you to practically crawl on your belly. Unfortunately, he only knew the ones on the upper levels, because he'd never been allowed in Section Five before.

He started working his way upward, literally following the wire. He was just coming out of a hands-and-knees section when he saw a tunnel marked with a color he'd never seen before. It was a dark bluish purple, and it didn't say where it led. It was fairly large—enough that he'd be able to stand. Deciding to come back to it once he'd fixed the computer, he continued searching for the source of his problems.

He was almost beneath the DED lab when he found it. The wires had been cut. Straight through, clean. Not like a stray lab rat had gnawed through it, or overuse had frayed it. Deliberate sabotage.

He patched the section with conductive tape, and covered that with electrical tape. He figured that would hold until a real electrician or mechanic or whoever maintained these could put a permanent fix in.

_Crisis averted_, he thought. He went back to the tunnel he'd seen earlier, and followed that path instead.

These tunnels were different from the ones he used during his early days. They housed no wires or equipment, but seemed to connect to every room in the building. He was moving steadily upward, until he thought he was almost to ground level. He spotted a sign that made him stop.

"Chief of Security J. Lupo's Office," read the sign.

He'd searched (and searched) when he'd first come here to find access to the Chief of Security's office, even before Lupo got the job. He'd never found one. He'd thought that he knew all the secret passages in GD. Apparently, he'd missed the entire set of security tunnels that were completely separate from maintenance and communications.

He approached the door, which had a screen that made the other side invisible. If he didn't have time to hack security cameras, maybe he could bug her office with his own camera. Crude, but plausible. Unless she caught him—then he'd just be dead.

He checked his watch. Ten o'clock. That wasn't too late to call, right? No, she'd been hanging on to his every word. She'd probably love to hear from him. And they'd promised to keep each other updated on what they found, right?

He hit 'call' on his PDA.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Zoe, I think I found something."

"What is it?"

"I found—" but he stopped when he saw Lupo enter her office. "Zoe, I have a problem. I—"

The door banged open and Lupo came through, gun first. Zane startled and dropped the phone.

"What the hell, Zane?"

"I…I, uh…"

"What are you doing?"

"I was just…Can you maybe point that somewhere else?"

She looked at the gun in her hands and nodded. She moved it back to its holster, before stepping back and gesturing for him to join her in her office.

"So, Zane. What were you doing?" She looked unimpressed as he slunk in and sat down at her desk. "Because I just got a call from the automatic system telling me there was a breach in Section Two. Was that you?"

"I may have been crawling around the service tunnels, yeah."

"Why?"

Truth. He could tell her that. Part of that. "The computer system got disconnected from the DED lab."

"Disconnected?"

"Somebody cut the wire."

"Cut…the wire?"

"Yeah. My computer got cut off from the server. It wouldn't take any commands."

"You know it was deliberate?"

"It was a clean cut. No marks. I reconnected it. I was hoping it could wait to be fixed until next week. After I finish the project."

"You—touched it?"

He drew back from her angry stare. "Well, yeah. I had to fix it."

"Zane, when we go down there and try to figure out who sabotaged a Global Dynamics computer system, whose fingerprints are we going to find?"

He hadn't thought of that. "Mine? But I'm telling you now. Why would I want to wreck a project I've spent fifty hours on in the last five days?"

She sighed and sat down behind her desk. "I'll look into it, Zane. Just make sure you finish by Friday." She pulled a file out of a drawer, and he took it as a dismissal.

He stood to leave, but turned back.

"Jo," he started tentatively. Oh, this could go so badly. "We're…friends, right?"

She looked intensely uncomfortable. "Sure, I guess."

"I mean, I've spent a lot of time in your jail cell. I think we've gotten to know each other pretty well."

She nodded, but her expression wasn't Jo anymore—it was the Enforcer. Stony faced and emotionless.

If he pushed, maybe he'd break through. "If something were wrong…would you tell me?"

"I guess that depends," she said slowly. But her posture softened.

"On?"

"Whether or not you'd want to listen. Here's your phone, by the way." The abrupt change in subject startled Zane, but he took his PDA from her. "Who were you calling?"

"Oh, I was talking to Zoe."

The Enforcer slammed back into place.

"I'll see you around?"

"I'll let you know if I find anything about your computer."

* * *

_A/N-Sorry this is late. I've been prepping for midterms, etc. Then, on Thursday, I downloaded Real Racing 3. I think it's changed my life-I'm super obsessed and it ate into my writing time before I realized what was happening. Anywho, to make up for it this chapter's a tiny bit longer :)_

_Let me know if you find any great fics to read!_

_As always, reviews that help me improve = best!_


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N-Thanks for reading :)_

* * *

_Previously…Zane is spending more and more time in GD, struggling to make the deadline. His computer is sabotaged, and in the course of fixing it he discovers a secret passage that leads him to Jo's office. She is…less than pleased to find him there, especially when she finds out he was on the phone with Zoe._

* * *

"Good morning, Fargo," Zoe said brightly as she passed him in the rotunda early Monday morning.

He stopped and spun, chasing after her quickly moving form.

"Zoe! What are you doing here?"

"I want to go over Thurgood's Deception again." She had liked Thurgood; everybody had. He was a good scientist and a better teacher, and oftentimes that was what counted most. But the moniker had been quickly adopted, and everybody was using it, including Zoe.

"I thought you'd already been through it all last week?"

"Well, I was thinking about it this weekend, and I thought of some other possibilities for applications. We talked about its use for medicine, and he was already using it for studying fossils, but I think it could have a lot of possibilities for ecological conservation and restoration." This was, of course, a total lie, with the benefit of being true. A team from an environmental studies lab was already looking into the uses of the perm, but Zoe had no intention of going and helping them. She just needed an excuse to be in GD.

"Oh, alrighty then."

"Great, thanks," she said, and turned to leave.

"Hey, Zoe!" She looked back at him. "We've still gotta have that Idol night!"

"We do," she agreed. Right now, however, she was more interested in her current mission.

She took the elevator down to Section Two, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Fargo wasn't following her. In the clear, she made her way towards Jo's office. She might not be able to hack into GD records on her own, but she could certainly snoop around a desk. She happened to know that Jo would not be in her office that morning—a military test was happening on-site on the far side of town.

She tapped in a manual access code to get through the door. The string of numbers wasn't difficult to work out—it was a string of birthdays mixed with deployment dates of her family members, and Zoe knew it from sharing computer passwords with Jo.

She rounded the corner into the main office and jogged down the steps, listening for the door to close behind her. When she looked up, she was greeted by a surprising sight.

Zane was seated in Jo's chair, behind the desk, fast asleep. His hair looked like he'd run his hands through it repeatedly.

"Zane?" She walked over to him and poked his shoulder. He twitched away from her finger, but didn't wake up. "Zane."

She moved her hand to his shoulder and shook.

He jerked away from her this time, sitting bolt upright but eyes still half-closed with sleep. "Lupo, I can explain—" His voice was slurred, but he shook himself and looked at her clearly. "Oh, Zoe," he said in a much clearer voice. A little gravely, if you asked her. Had she ever mentioned that he was attractive? "You're not Lupo. This is her office, right? What are you doing here?"

"Same thing as you, probably. Looking for information."

"Oh. Right. What's her oldest brother's name?"

That was a little bit left field. "Rico. Why?"

"I came in here to—well, it's kind of a long story. But after I got out of here last night, I got to thinking about how she said I'd left finger prints down there."

"Which could be misconstrued as sabotage by you," Zoe nodded along. He'd told her all of this on the phone last night.

"Right. So, well, I came back after I knew she'd be gone. I came in this morning—I say this morning, I mean two o'clock—to see what she'd written in her report. Because the old Jo would have had me accused and shipped off before you can say 'Bob's your uncle.' But new Jo, do you know what she wrote? '_Inconclusive evidence,' _and not one mention of the possibility that it might be my fault. I'm mentioned only in that it was my computer and that I'm the one who repaired it."

Zoe was still agreeing. Before, Jo _would_ have done anything to get rid of Zane. He would have been the prime and only suspect. Zoe _needed_ to know what was different and why things had changed.

"So, anyway, I thought, while I was here, why not have a look around, see if I can't find something to help me hack into the security cameras."

"Won't she be suspicious when she sees you in here on the tapes?"

"I've fed it a loop. Oh, you'd be surprised how much easier it is to put something into the security feeds than it is to get it out."

"And?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure 'Rico' is the answer to this last security question, and then I'm in. I couldn't remember their names."

"So, you're in?"

"Almost…" he looked between Jo's computer and his laptop a few times, typing in something on his own computer, and finishing with a flourish. "Yes! That was way more work than when I first got here. I—" He looked at the video on his laptop that now showed himself and Zoe in Jo's office. "Is that the time? Oh, I'm so late—I'm sorry. I'll talk to you later?"

Zoe nodded, oddly disappointed.

"I'll let you know if I see anything on this." He patted his laptop and began rearranging the desk so that Jo wouldn't know he'd been there. "See you later."

"See you."

Zoe knew it wasn't his fault that Fargo had given him this enormous project on an impossible deadline, but she couldn't help wishing that she could spend more time with him. She would only be in town for a little over a week, and he was going to be spending most of that here in GD.

When she'd needed a physics tutor, Zane had been there for her. His unequalled knowledge of physics concepts made him qualified, but he himself… He had a way of explaining things that made them make sense. His enthusiasm for the topics made her more interested in them. He knew, and she wanted to know more. He was a good tutor, and she'd found herself quickly falling. Nevermind the boys in her dorms. They had nothing a Eureka's resident bad-boy genius. (And not that she'd be telling her father this anytime soon, but the bad-boy part of it didn't hurt).

Her summer program was over, but the new semester would begin in two weeks. She wanted to be able to spend time with her (hopefully, soon-to-be) boyfriend. True, they could holoskype, but it wasn't the same as being there in person. The holoskype system limited you to wherever you had it installed, and, being semi-top-secret Eureka technology, it had to stay in her dorm room.

Maybe he could fly out and visit her sometime. But, no. That would violate his parole, wouldn't it? He was stuck in Eureka, and it sucked. She'd be back for Thanksgiving, and Christmas, but those were months and months away. How could she make a new relationship work long distance?

The person she'd always gone to for advice, her best friend, her older sister, was refusing to talk about it. Her other friends—ones she'd made at Tesla—were no help because they had zero experience. Pilar liked to pretend she knew things, but life in Eureka was pretty sheltered. And her new friends at Harvard—they were no help because she couldn't explain to them that "The Guy" was a felon, but on parole because he was a genius and a top secret military research and development company needed him.

That left her father, who, even if she was comfortable discussing this kind of thing with, had been strangely reticent. Zoe thought he was trying to stay out of it—if he turned a blind eye, she'd work out her problems on her own. But then, a few times, he'd shown regret at her decisions. He didn't directly tell her not to date him; he probably knew that would only make her pursue the relationship more. But he certainly didn't approve.

At first she'd thought it was because of who it was. Zane was a felon, and not the most stand-up guy in town. But he'd said…Her father had said that he thought Zane was okay. So it seemed it was just the relationship he didn't like.

What was she supposed to do about that?

Prove it. She'd prove it to him, to Zane, to herself, to everybody else, that this relationship could be something real. They had a connection—she'd felt it. She just had to make everybody else see it, too.

* * *

_A/N-*Hides in corner* I promise you, I'm not shipping Zane and Zoe. We'll get there, eventually. In the meantime, it's going to get worse before it gets better._

_Zane baffles me. We love him, but he's such a jerk. I think we, like Jo, have left-over feelings from the old timeline and forgive him his (new) faults because we remember what he used to be like, and hope he'll eventually get back to that state (I think he does, even if he is different). That said, I know the last chapter sucked. It was rushed and worded badly, and most of the plot advancing elements were convoluted and confusing. I'm pretty sure it should be improving, though, from here on out. Plans are laid, and I know what's coming :)_

_Again, thanks for reading! I really appreciate all reviews, but I'd love it if anybody could give me some tips on improving._

_P.S. That means review, please!_


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N-Some of you are getting ahead of me :) (Also, please don't kill me)_

* * *

_Previously…Zoe goes to GD with the intent to snoop through Jo's office, only to find that Zane has already done so. Zane finally succeeds in hacking the security system, and promises to let Zoe know if he sees anything. In the meantime, he's pushing himself harder than ever to finish the DED project and Zoe is feeling a little left out._

* * *

If there was one thing Zane trusted about Lupo, it was that she was good at her job. He could testify to that firsthand. Second, he would say she was loyal, perhaps to a fault, and dedicated to the protection of the greater good. Dedicated, as well, to the protection of innocent individuals. She was loyal to GD, to Fargo, and to Eureka as a whole.

So he couldn't figure out how Grant had slipped past her.

When they'd asked him to hack the Pentagon (a fun challenge, to be sure), he'd seen that Dr. Oldspice (perfect nickname, a la Carter) was not who he said he was. At least, he'd faked his IDs and records. If Zane could spot that, so could Jo. So either she was off her game or she knew he was a fake and was covering for him.

Actually, those could both be true, and related. If she was being coerced into covering Grant's tracks, that could explain why she'd been so off and unfocused lately. It didn't explain the others who were involved…Carter, for sure. Fargo, probably. Blake, Henry, and Grace, maybe. Unless Grant had something over all of them. What could he possibly do to six of the most influential members of town?

Zane added "Watch Grant" to his mental list of things to do this week. He would watch for Grant and Jo, while he still had access to the security system, and he would finish this project, whether it killed him or not. Scratch that, that was like tempting fate in Eureka. He'd finish the project no matter what, but it wouldn't kill him.

Zane refocused on the monitors in front of him. He was now running four systems; the DED system, which he'd reconnected on Sunday and was run off of GD's mainframe, his tablet, his work laptop, and his personal laptop. He'd carefully placed his personal computer behind the others, angled so that you couldn't see the screen from the other stations or from the security cameras. Displayed on that screen were several feeds; one for Lupo and one for Grant. The other three he was using for the project.

He had made great progress yesterday, and had most of the main programs written. A secondary support program, however, was giving him trouble. The main program needed it to run, but the runtime of this secondary program was nearly a week—and what good did that do a defensive response weapon?

He'd begun counting down the hours—fifty more to go. Fifty hours to pare down this runtime from 6.5 days to twenty minutes. Fifty hours until Mansfield came into town expecting an effective test. Fifty hours to make or break his chances at the Big Bang.

He glanced at the security video again, and saw two things.

One, Jo was still in her office. She was shuffling through papers on her desk with one hand. As she selected one and sat back to read it, he saw that with the other hand she was fingering something at her neck. The camera, while high end, was too far away and too unclear to be able to tell what it was. A necklace of some kind, it must be. She absentmindedly moved it back and forth across her fingers. It was a habit, he could tell. But he'd never seen her do it. How did that happen? He'd tell Zoe, and maybe Zoe could find out what it was.

Two, he saw Grant leave his office. This wouldn't have been suspicious if the historian wasn't looking around shiftily and hurrying through corridors, avoiding people as much as possible. Or maybe Zane was projecting. But, no, nobody went down a floor just to find an unused staircase to go back up three floors to a door that led directly to the parking lot. He watched Grant drive away from the last camera that was situated at the main gate. Where was he going?

He could go break into Grant's office and search for clues. But that would put him (even further) behind on this program. It was also likely to get him into extra trouble with Lupo, because she'd made it pretty clear that she wanted him to drop his suspicions of Grant.

No, better that he wait until Grant came back. He could just pick him up on the cameras again. In the meantime, he was going to focus in on solving this runtime.

* * *

Zane had forgotten the rush he got from solving a complex equation. It had been so long since anything challenged him. But this elation, it was a wonderful feeling and he had to share it before he burst. Plus he might burst anyway if he spent any more time in GD.

So it was that at nine o'clock Wednesday night, Zane left GD for the first time in what felt like days. Forty-one hours to go, and the bulk of the work was done. Who to share it with? Well, pretty much, Zoe. Who else would care that he'd accomplished something? Maybe Fargo, in the sense that it would get Mansfield off his back.

Zane made his way to S.A.R.A.H. Zoe would be happy for him. Maybe he'd even have some free time to spend with her. He laughed to himself. Maybe Carter would be there, and he could watch him fume. Nothing was more entertaining than an angry, blustering Carter.

Zoe was alone in the living room when he arrived, however. She jumped up when she saw him, a big grin spreading over her face.

"Zane! I didn't think you'd escape the hole until Saturday?"

"I have great news," he said, and he couldn't stop himself from smiling either.

"Mr. Donovan," S.A.R.A.H. interrupted, "my sensors indicate that you are severely lacking in several essential nutrients, including but not limited to vitamins A, C, and especially D, iron, phosphates—"

"Thanks, S.A.R.A.H., but I'll have to catch up on all of that later."

"What was your news, Zane?"

"A few things. Small or big first?"

Zoe considered for a minute before deciding, "Small."

"I think I found something on the security cams." Zoe stood up straighter. "Jo was sitting in her office, playing with something around her neck. I figure it's a necklace, but I couldn't tell what it was."

Zoe looked thoughtful. "I've seen her doing that. You're right, it is a necklace. But she always keeps it tucked into her shirt, so I've never seen what's on it either. She wears it all the time. But she only touches it when she's really distracted and thinks no one is looking."

"Do you think you can find it, when she's not wearing it?"

"Covert infiltration of Jo's room? Yeah, I can do that."

"You sound just a tad too excited about that."

Zoe grinned again. "So, if that was the small news, what's the big news?"

"I'm almost finished with the project Fargo gave me. I finally got the runtime of the program down, by almost five hundred percent."

"Oh, Zane, that's great!" She threw her arms around his neck, knocking him backward. By the time he recovered enough to start hugging her back, she was already pulling away. Not far, though. Suddenly, her face was right in front of his, and she was—oh crap.

Her mouth was on his. It wasn't a tiny, friendly-like kiss, either. It was a full on lip-lock that she was pretty enthusiastic about.

It's not that he hadn't known about her feelings for him. She wasn't subtle, and he wasn't stupid. What had he been thinking?

No, seriously. What kind of a dumbass idea was that, leading her on? A fun one, that's what. Stuck as he was in Eureka, he didn't have a lot of face-to-face contact with the outside world. Zoe was one of the few (only) people who had always treated him like a human being, not just in the last five months. But he hadn't meant for it to go quite this far. Crush on the (good looking, intelligent) tutor? Totally understandable and normal. Anything more than that? Maybe a little too much.

He pulled back, probably much sooner than Zoe wanted. She didn't look disappointed though, only happy. She also looked like she was thinking about going back in.

"Look, Zoe, I have to go back to GD. I just wanted to share the great news. I'll see you later? I think I'll be done by Friday afternoon. There were some people going up to the lake then. I might try to stop by."

And even though he was bolting—pretty obviously—she didn't look upset. She just smiled again and agreed to meet up with him later.

* * *

_A/N-*curls into ball in that corner* When I—when I say I'm not shipping Zane and Zoe, I mean that I personally don't want them together. Within the story, however, well...Zoe wholeheartedly approves of the two of them together. But I think a_ teensy_ bit of my own opinion _may_ have been projected onto Zane's thoughts. Maybe._

_This story originally had 6 chapters, but then it grew plot and evolved the alternating perspective. I'm through about 4 of them, now._

_Thanks for reading! I apologize for where it is right now, but it will end up in a better place._

_Reviews are lovely :)_


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N-You guys are great. Thanks for reading :)_

* * *

_Previously…Zane spots Grant behaving suspiciously and Jo toying with her necklace. He has a major breakthrough in the DED project and goes to S.A.R.A.H. to tell Zoe. Zoe agrees to snoop for Jo's necklace, and in the joy of celebration, kisses Zane. Zane freaks out and retreats back to Global._

* * *

_And I love you_

_Like a broken record plays_

_But I'm a window pane—a phantom limb_

_When I am watching you watch him_

* * *

Zoe knew there was a stupid grin on her face. She knew she looked twitterpated. She knew, and didn't care.

As far as first kisses went, it wasn't perfect. She'd pretty much sprung it on him, and his reaction time was already low from having spent so much time in front of a computer in GD. Sure, he'd practically fled the scene. But she'd surprised him, and he was a known commitment-phobe. He just needed time to think about it.

He'd said he would see her Friday.

Zoe practically floated up the stairs toward her bedroom, set on an hour or two of day-dreaming and giddiness. An odd sound made her pause, though, at the top of the stairs. It sounded like it was coming from Jo's room. But Jo was a quiet houseguest, when she wasn't hogging the TV. Zoe never heard anything out of her room.

She paused in front of the door anyway, and leaned her ear against it just to be sure. She was surprised to find that the sound _was_ coming from Jo's room. She hadn't even known Jo was home.

She pressed her knuckles against the door in a light knock. "Jo?"

No response. Zoe knocked harder, and when she received no answer she cautiously made her way into the room.

She was shocked speechless at the sight.

Jo was sitting on the floor on the far side of the bed, with her back pressed against the comforter. Her knees were pulled tight against her body, her face pressed hard into them. But what was most shocking, what Zoe had never seen before, were the rolling sobs that shook her entire body.

Jo was sobbing uncontrollably on her bedroom floor.

Once she got over the shock, Zoe flew to her side. She sat beside her, gently brushing against her and making soothing noises. This was not something she had a lot of experience with, this heart wrenching crying, especially when it came to Jo. Jo wasn't known for being overtly emotional, and she let Zoe see more of it than most people.

Zoe waited out the racking, breath-stealing sobs until they quieted into rapid breathing and hiccups. Jo looked up and for the first time seemed to realize that Zoe was sitting there.

She reached up to wipe tears from her face, saying, "Sorry, Zoe. You didn't ha—have to sit through that."

Zoe was about to object to Jo being sorry when she saw that Jo's other hand—the one not trying uselessly to wipe away tear tracks—was trapped between her knees and her chest.

When Zoe didn't respond, Jo continued, "Thank you, though."

"You're…welcome? Jo, can you please tell me what's wrong? I've never, ever seen you this upset about anything."

"Zoe, it's difficult to explain."

"Try. Please. I just…you're in pain, and I want to make you feel better. But I can't if I have no idea what's wrong."

Jo looked like she was thinking about how to start. And then tears began rolling down her cheeks as she fought to keep it inside. Ultimately she lost, and another sob ran through her.

Slowly, she pulled her hand from between her knees and pulled the necklace over her head. She held out her hand to Zoe, and opened her palm.

Zoe stared. Jo was _engaged?_ How the _hell_ did she not know about that? Why the hell _didn't_ she know about it? Her eyes traveled from the ring in Jo's palm to her face, which was once again pressed against the knees.

"Jo?"

Her whole body shook. "I—I lost him," she said simply, without looking up.

Zoe sucked in a breath. That…that explained so much. Why Jo had been so depressed lately. Why Jo didn't want to talk about Zoe's brand new relationship. Why her father didn't want her to flaunt that new relationship.

It didn't explain why she didn't know about the engagement, especially if her dad did. She didn't even know Jo had been dating. How had so much slipped past her?

"What happened?" she asked softly.

"Eureka happened." Zoe could hear the bitterness in the reply.

"Did he…I mean, is he…?" Zoe didn't want to ask outright. Jo had said she'd lost him. That could mean they broke up, or he got fired, or, or… or… Zoe knew the answer, already. With an answer like "Eureka," the question was never good.

Jo pulled her hand back to her chest, clutching at the ring like a lifeline. She took a steadying breath.

"That's the thing; I don't even understand the science behind it. The way they explained it to me, he might be d—dead. He might be stuck out there, in the universe, trying to get back. Like Stark. The worst—he might still be in Eureka. He just can't remember who he is. Who I am. Why we were in love."

Crying overtook her figure once more, and this time Zoe was with her. The two sat for a long time, until the tears ran out and Jo looked like she was in control again.

Jo looked over at Zoe and tried to smile. "You know, normally I'd feel ridiculous for crying over a guy. That's not the kind of thing an Army Ranger loses control about." Her voice got softer. "But I…I _miss_ him."

"Jo, I'm so sorry." What else was there to say? How did you fix something like losing your fiancé?

Jo was looking stronger, now. Zoe started, "Is this why you didn't want to talk about me and Zane?"

Jo let out a choking laugh that might have been a sob. "Yeah, it is. I'm sorry. I guess…Zane _reminds_ me of him. A lot."

"I'm sorry, Jo. If I'd known, I wouldn't have—why didn't I know?"

Jo looked just a little more lost. "It's complicated."

Zoe looked at her expectantly, but she didn't look like she was going to continue. "And?" Zoe prompted.

"And it's Eureka related. Super classified. I can't tell you—couldn't tell you, Zoe. I'm sorry."

"How long ago did this happen?"

"About five months."

"Why now?"

"Well, I couldn't not tell you why I was curled up on the floor after you walked in. But I can't tell you more. It's so top secret even I shouldn't know about it. But I do, because I was involved. I… It's dangerous to know about it. That's why we didn't tell you."

"We?"

Jo's face got that 'oh crap' look that she'd seen so many times on her father.

"Jo, who else? My dad, right? He knew. He kept telling me not to be with Zane. He said to 'look at what it did to other people.' Was this what he meant? Because, Jo, I honestly didn't see anything."

And now she looked like she was going to start crying again. "Yeah, your dad, too. What crisis _isn't_ he in the middle of in this town? He's been so great to me, Zoe. Letting me stay here, getting me through this."

"Anybody else?"

"The less you know, the better, Zoe."

She wasn't going to accept that, but she could let it slide for now.

"So, who was he? Tell me about him," Zoe said. Jo hesitated, so she pressed, "Come on. Getting it off your chest will help."

"You didn't know him. Never met. But he was kind, and funny, and one of the smartest people in town. Irritating as hell, clumsy…loved extreme sports. Loved danger and adrenaline even more than I do. Drove me crazy. I drove him crazy.

"God, when he first came to town—more than three years ago—I hated him. Almost as much as I hated Carter at first. But he didn't take my job. He was my job, and he was a pain in the ass. Your dad and I spent the first couple days chasing him down, trying to keep him in line. Lot of good it did us.

"He finally did something productive, and saved the town from some disaster. I don't know what exactly changed Carter's mind, but he let him go. Gave him advice on how to ask me out. We went on a couple of disastrous dates, but got it right in the end. We spent the better part of two years on-again-off-again, fighting constantly.

"But we loved each other. He…he proposed to me, that day. He recreated how we first met, and got down on one knee, and I…I hesitated. The future flashed before my eyes and I panicked, didn't answer before he got pissed and left.

"The…thing…that I can't tell you…happened, and I never saw him again. I never gave him an answer, Zoe. He left without ever knowing that I'd…that I would give anything to have him back."

"I'm so sorry," Zoe repeated. She'd truly had no idea. "Why won't you tell me his name?"

"That's…a part of it. A part of what I can't tell you. I'm sorry, but I can't. It wouldn't be fair to you; to put you in danger, just to make myself feel better. I won't do it."

That was so completely Jo, putting the safety of others before herself. It made Zoe a little bit furious.

"Zoe, I appreciate this, I really do. But I shouldn't have told you as much as I have. I'm sorry. Maybe someday, when we're farther away, and the ripples have stopped, I'll tell you about it."

Zoe knew that was a dismissal. But what did it mean?

"If there's anything I can do? Tell me. Please." She pulled Jo to her feet and hugged her tight. The last thing she saw before she left was Jo reclining against her pillows, staring with shiny eyes at the ring.

Alone in her own room, Zoe wondered what she should do. She was still reeling from Jo's tragedy. How had her best friend kept so much from her? Why?

What should she tell Zane? She'd promised to share whatever she found, but this…this was not what she'd been expecting. She didn't know what she'd thought happened. It certainly wasn't that Jo had lost something so monumental. This was so much more personal than she'd imagined it would be. She shouldn't betray Jo's trust like that. She wouldn't. She could explain that to Zane. He'd understand.

But, oh, how could she help Jo?

* * *

_A/N-So I must admit that this chapter is what started this whole story, and I've been waiting for it for a long time. (Pretty much, Zoe trying to comfort Jo without knowing she's the problem)._

_On the second paragraph: Rationalizing another's actions to fit what you want them to mean? Been. There._

_Jo's confusion on the change stems from mine-I never did quite work out if they're supposed to be in an alternate timeline, or an altered timeline, or what. So, I thought, if I didn't know, why should Jo? It just adds to her confusion._

_This whole story has been from either Zane or Zoe's perspectives, and everything Jo does is observed by them. Her motives all come from Zoe or Zane's actions and knowledge that the audience (supposedly) already has. So I hope it's clear what's happening with her._

_Quasi-When I read your comments, at first I'm like, "Huh?" and then I think about it, and you're right about everything, even your predictions for the future. So, uh, thanks for making me more aware of what I'm writing. It helps, a lot :)_

_Happy Easter, if you like. Otherwise, I wish you an unfortunate but happy Last Day of Spring Break!_

_As always, thanks for reading and feedback. Please review :)_


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N-Thanks for reading. Sorry for the lack of action._

* * *

_Previously… Zoe's elation from kissing Zane is quickly dampened when she discovers Jo crying her heart out in her room. After some coaxing, Jo tells Zoe about her engagement. Zoe decides to keep Jo's confidence and not tell Zane, and wonders how Jo kept her dating a secret for so long._

* * *

Damn it, Carter. And for once, he meant the younger Carter. Twenty-six hours to go, and his head was spinning. Of all the messes he'd ever gotten himself into—and there were a lot—he'd never been quite so PO'd about a girl.

First she kisses him—not a horrible idea, but, really? Yes, he'd known she was crushing pretty hard on him. Yes, he may have…not discouraged it enough. He might have actively encouraged it, if he was being honest with himself. But he'd started tutoring her for that physics course three or four months ago, and she'd never done a thing about it. Until last night.

And then—then she has the…the _gall_ to remove herself as his ally. She figured it out. She knew, _knew_ what had happened to Lupo, and she wasn't sharing. Though, in this honest mood he was in, he was keeping secrets from her too. He had no intention of telling her about the other three to six people that were probably involved, especially not Carter senior or Grant.

_"Donovan," he answered his PDA. He glanced up at the monitors to make sure the programs were still running before focusing on the caller. He sighed when Zoe began speaking._

_ "Zane, hey. I…have some news."_

_ "Good news?"_

_ "Not…not really, no."_

_ Why was she interrupting his work, then? "So, what is it?"_

_ "I'd really rather talk in person, if you've got time?"_

_ "Zoe, the test for this project is in twenty-seven hours. I don't really have time to spare."_

_ "What if I met you in the GD cafeteria for lunch?"_

_ "When?"_

_ "Now?"_

_ "You're already here?"_

_ "Yeah. I was going to just meet you, but I forgot you're in Section Five now. I couldn't get access."_

_ "I'll be up in about five minutes, then." He hung up abruptly. He checked the systems again to make sure they'd remain running while he was away, and then left the lab for the cafeteria._

_ It was only eleven o'clock, still early for lunch, and Zoe had had her choice of empty tables. He spotted her on the far side of the room, alone at a corner table._

_ "Zane, hey." She didn't look happy._

_ "What's your bad news?"_

_ "I found out what happened to Jo—"_

_ "That sounds like good news."_

_ "—but I can't tell you what it is."_

_ Sorry, what? "You can't tell me?" he asked. Zoe shook her head. "What does that mean, 'you can't tell me'?"_

_ "It's just a lot more personal than I thought it was going to be." Misreading his look of disbelief, she continued, "But it's not something that's going to affect her work or anyone's safety or anything."_

_ "More personal? What did you think it was going to be?"_

_ "I guess I didn't think. What it is…it never even occurred to me. She's been keeping stuff from me for a lot longer than I thought. I guess I don't know her as well as I thought I did."_

_ Yes, yes, that was tragic. But did that mean she had to cut him out? "Zoe, come on. We were in this together, I thought." That was a little bit low, especially since he wasn't planning on having a together with her. Too bad. She couldn't just cut him off like this._

_ "I'm sorry, Zane. I have to consider Jo's feelings in this. If she didn't let _me_ know, I don't think she'd want _you_ knowing."_

_ "What's that supposed to mean?" he growled. Oh no, he was getting defensive, wasn't he?_

_ "Just that I've known her a lot longer, and she's like my sister. She used to tell me everything. You…you don't have a great history with her." Then she suddenly sat up straighter and stared at him. "Why do you even want to know?" Oh, good. He was making her defensive, now, too._

That was a good question, he reflected, back in the calm of his station in lab 742. Why did he want to know? Zoe hadn't ever questioned him on it, before. She was probably just glad she had somebody able (and willing) to let her in on the secrets of GD. Probably glad that that somebody was him.

He knew himself well enough to know that a need to satisfy his curiosity was a driving factor. He'd always had to know everything—when people were being nice they called it curiosity. Other times, when he'd pushed his way in a little too far, they called it being nosy. Well, you couldn't be nosy in the affairs of the universe, and so uncovering the secrets to everything had become his life's work.

Until he got himself into trouble and discovered that computer hacking was pretty fun, too.

But all of that was making it sound like some noble goal—to know for the sake of knowledge. If he continued with that honest streak, he'd admit that he had other, more selfish reasons. For one, it was wigging him out. Suddenly Fargo and Lupo are nice? Suddenly Carter has expressions other than constant suspicion for him? Suddenly there's a new guy in town that has some kind of control over the mayor, the head of Global, the sheriff, the head of security, etc. etc.? For two, some of those changes directly affected him. He hadn't been in jail for months. He wasn't shunted from project to project nearly as often. The projects he _did_ get assigned to were mildly interesting. So, if these shiny new habits of his superiors had come so quickly, were they here to stay?

He had a feeling they were. If the ideas that, since Founder's Day, had been surfacing from his subconscious were correct, they were. But all he had were hunches, and they were so out there he felt like he might be grasping at straws. Seeing what he wanted to see.

But others had noticed. Zoe, at least, had seen it in Jo. And everybody from Fontana to Thompson had noticed how Fargo was less dictatorial and Lupo less militant. The gossip at Café Diem was that the mayor was suddenly, inexplicably having trouble with his wife. Rumors included things about Carter and Blake, as well. How she'd been acting suddenly more maternal than ever—might she be pregnant again? But that was five months ago, and obviously that hadn't turned out to be true. Her sudden clinginess to her son wasn't something Zane had noticed, but Vincent had been all too happy to describe it to him, whether he wanted to hear about it or not.

And the sudden appearance of Grant, whose backstory was vague and made up.

Zane looked at his laptop, still hidden behind project monitors, intending to check on Grant's lab. He did a double take. All the video feeds were snow. Where just a few hours ago there'd been live feeds from various hallways and offices, there was nothing but static, and a blinking light in the corner that alerted him to a new message.

"Tomorrow, after the DED test. My office. We need to talk."

Oh, crap. Well, that just proved his point, didn't it? Before, she would have marched down to Section Five and hauled him out of his lab immediately. Now she was making an appointment. A demanding one, sure, but she wasn't arresting him. Though, if he thought about it, that could be because she wanted him to finish the DED in time for Mansfield. Which meant it really had nothing to do with him. His head was spinning again.

Damn it, Lupo.

* * *

_A/N-Is the flashback format too random? I'm not sure why it's there. I think mostly I really wanted to start the chapter with Zane swearing at Zoe. This chapter really is "Zane does things for fifteen hundred words" (except it's only like 1200) because I wanted to keep the alternating format, but the next thing that happens has to happen with Zoe. So, sorry for this one._

_On Zane-He's pretty angry at the beginning, but my thinking is that he's pretty emotionally unstable at this point, mostly from stress and lack of sleep, and also a little bit from Zoe. I know that new-timeline Zane is generally more angry/bitter, as well, but I don't think my Zane has been. Too OoC?_

_On Jo-(In the previous chapter) I completely agree she's the hide away and don't share with anyone kind of girl, but she's been holding it all in for ~5 months and she just kind of reached a breaking point. Plus, I wanted to show that she still feels like Zoe is the sister-she-never-had, and isn't completely holding Zane against her._

_On Zoe-(In the previous chapter) Zoe wasn't aware that Jo was at home (therefore Zane didn't know, either)._

_You guys are really great. If only I could have this much critical thought and insight into Antigone and Othello._

_Random note-On Monday (4-8), ABC is re-airing _The Final Frontier, _episode 5.06 of Castle, guest-starring Ed Quinn (Stark). He'll be live tweeting the episode at 10pm PST, if anybody's in the US and interested._

_TL:DR-Thanks for reading :)_


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N-The Ex-Files is upon us!_

* * *

_Previously...Zoe knows what happened to Jo, but isn't sharing with Zane. Zane has some ideas about what happened to everybody, and isn't sharing with Zoe. With one day left to finish the DED, he's lost his access to the security cameras. He doesn't have time to reestablish the connection, but he's convinced Grant is behind…something._

* * *

"Morning, Dad," Zoe said as she slid onto the barstool beside him in the kitchen. He was halfway through lowering his glass of orange juice, and it landed hard against the countertop when he startled.

"Zoe! You're up early—again. It's kind of starting to freak me out. You haven't been affected by some experiment up at GD, have you? Fargo mentioned you stopped by to look at Thurgood's perm again. Or is this how it is at college? You always get up this early?"

She laughed. "Hardly. No, I just want to spend as much of my time in Eureka awake as I can. And I have something to ask you."

He looked like he was about to crack a joke—probably about The Talk—before he noticed how serious she looked. He nodded, and went to take another sip of juice.

"Why didn't you tell me Jo was engaged?"

He choked, and this time the glass nearly shattered when it met the counter.

Coughing, he managed, "Why do you…what makes you ask that?"

"We had a talk Wednesday night."

"Well, honey, I—" he started. Zoe scoffed. She'd thought she was old enough to _not_ be deserving of that patronizing, placating tone. He seemed to notice, though, and stopped. "It wasn't mine to tell."

She huffed in frustration. It was getting harder and harder to get a straight answer in this town. "Okay, I'll try again. Why didn't _Jo_ tell me she was engaged? Why didn't she tell me she was _dating_?"

He shifted uncomfortably on the stool and kept his eyes on his plate while he spoke. "She was always worried about what people would think of her relationship with him—that they'd judge her, or something, because he didn't have the greatest reputation. She hardly let anybody know they were dating. They kept it a secret for a long time."

Even if her dad was a better liar, she wouldn't believe that. He had just about all of his tells going at once—twitching fingers, slower blinking, a nervous cough—and his sentences were carefully constructed and slow. Besides all that, what he said didn't make sense. Jo didn't care what anybody thought. She'd stand by those she loved, her own reputation be damned.

Her dad was lying to her. Since when did Jo garner greater loyalty in him than his own daughter? But, no, no, she wasn't going to be jealous of Jo. That would be ridiculous.

Why wouldn't anybody tell her what was going on?

She thought back to her conversation with Jo. Jo had said it would be dangerous to know. So—oh. Jo must have warned him. That was a pretty weird form of solidarity. And all to protect her? Zoe was frustrated. She was a big girl, and her dad couldn't protect her from everything. He _shouldn't _protect her from everything; she needed to learn how to live in the world. Even if Eureka wasn't the rest of the world.

"Dad, I'm worried about her." It wasn't the first time she'd voiced this concern, but it was the first time she'd shared it with someone who looked like they felt Jo's pain too.

His shoulders slumped and he went back to staring at his plate. "I know, honey. I am too."

Abruptly he stood, and carried his plate and glass to the sink. In one fluid motion he was grabbing his belt and calling over his shoulder, "I have to stop at the office before going to Henry's. Are you okay getting there on your own?"

"Yeah," she said. Between her excitement for the lake and her worry over Jo, she'd forgotten about Henry's picnic that she was supposed to attend. Suddenly in a better mood, she rushed back upstairs to pack swimming gear.

* * *

The picnic was lovely, but about the time the adult couples reverted to their middle school selves Zoe decided she'd stayed long enough to be polite.

"I'll see you later, Dad."

"Where are you going?"

"Um, people are swimming at the lake, and Zane said he might try and stop by." Maybe if she said it fast, he'd let it go.

"Okay. Have fun."

She could see it in the smug smirk. He was judging her. Again.

"Whatever, Judgy."

As she made her way to the front of the house, she heard him trying to defend himself.

In the car, she thought back to everybody's behavior at the party. Jo put up a good front, seeming to have fun, but Zoe could tell she was somewhere else. But—no, no. She was going to the lake, and she was going to have fun. Just because Jo wasn't on top of her game at the moment didn't mean Zoe was going to start missing out on life. She didn't need to dwell on Jo every waking minute of the day.

Forcing herself into an optimistic mindset (mostly by thinking about Zane), Zoe made the rest of the drive to Lake Archimedes in peace.

* * *

This September day was likely to be one of the last ones nice enough to swim in the lake, and everybody (mostly students from Tesla) was taking advantage. Zoe spent almost five minutes scanning the crowd before admitting to herself that Zane wasn't there yet.

She grabbed her bag and picked her way over the stones that lined the edge of the beach, heading towards the spot Pilar had claimed to sunbathe.

She let her shadow fall across her friend to get her attention.

"Hey, you're in my sun—Zoe!" That great smile stretched across her face when she saw who it was blocking the light. "I'm so glad you made it! I've hardly seen you at _all_ this week. You have to tell me all about Cambridge. Oh, and your new boyfriend! Is he here?"

Zoe breathed a sigh of relief. This was normal. It was non-Eurekan, normal people, normal _teenage_, talk. This was what she needed.

She dropped her bag next to Pilar (who was still stretched out on her stomach) and pulled out her own blanket. As she spread the blanket and settled down on it, she said, "No, I haven't seen him yet. And he's not my boyfriend. Yet."

They shared a giggle over that.

"So, details. Give."

Zoe pulled an umbrella out of the bag—Eurekan in style, super-compact—and set it up so that she could be in the shade while Pilar stayed in the sun. At her friend's incredulous look, she said, "What? I burn easy. You should've seen my dad, this one year after we went camping—he _actually_ looked like a raccoon." And just like that they were curled up in fits of giggles again.

Zoe told her about school, and all of the processes of going to college that Pilar would be going through soon. She told her about the courses, which, despite not taking place in Tesla, were quite challenging. Mostly she focused on a particular physics course and the rather spectacular tutor she'd acquired.

Then she got Pilar's version of all the latest gossip—it varied widely from Vincent's retellings. Pilar told her about things that had happened at Tesla since she'd left, most notably the science fair, where several new students had almost built a real volcano (luckily someone stopped them in time, but not before the town overheated to 120 degrees). Pilar painted a picture of prom, making it sound so magical that Zoe was sorry she'd missed it.

By the time they exhausted catching-up conversations, Pilar was finished with the sun. They found a group of friends and played a loosely defined game of volleyball. For hours, they alternated between ball games, swimming, and other beach-like activites. (Though Zoe was proud of her sandcastle, she hadn't won the competition.)

When people started pulling grilling materials from their cars, Zoe began to worry. It was getting late, and Zane still hadn't showed. Was he really that angry with her for not telling him about Jo? Even if he was, that wasn't going to make her change her mind. If it meant that much to Jo, she'd keep the secret. Why couldn't Zane understand that?

But just as she was going to start to help people unpack, her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Zoe. I'm so sorry I couldn't make it. We had a bit of a, um, incident…at the test."

Relief that he wasn't mad at her was quickly replaced by worry—incidents at Global Dynamics were never a small issue.

"I'm so glad you called. Is everything okay?"

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, everybody's fine. We just had some interference. Or something. We're not sure yet."

"Oh."

"I was just calling to see if—Well, I've been working on this for more than a week solid, and I figured I deserve some time off, now that we're not on any time limits. So I thought I could make it up to you, for missing the lake? We could go catch a movie, or something."

_It's not a date, it's not a date,_ she repeated to herself. And that little voice in her head added, _yet._ "I'd love to," she said out loud.

"Great. I'll pick you up around eight? At S.A.R.A.H.?"

"Sounds good," she managed to breathe out. _It's not a date. It's not a date._ But when he was picking her up? It sure sounded like a date.

* * *

_A/N-So sorry, all! But, but, just listen! I had two tests and a paper (if I didn't think phylogenetic trees derived from DNA/DNA hybridizations were boring before, I certainly do now) and then, on top of all that, I...*sob* I gave myself _four_ papercuts in the span of two hours at work (that's what I get for working in a library). And, in addition to this, tech week is next week, and anther 2 to 3 tests...So this time I'm apologizing in advance if my posts are (even) slower than usual._

And_ I noticed a spike in hits on Saturday, as though like a bunch of you checked in and I hadn't posted and and...I failed you. I'm sorry._

_Back to regularly scheduled programming: This chapter, once again, didn't turn out exactly as I intended, but it does it's job, I hope. Zoe's brief flash of jealousy stems, I think, from her being an only child, and a "suddenly her pseudo sister is getting more attention from Dad?" kind of thing. Food for thought._

_Also, I've noticed that most of Zoe's chapters start in the morning and end with a phone call. Don't know why, I guess it's just working out that way. Also food for thought._

_This chapter moves us back into actual episode territory (The Ex-Files), but it will be even more apparent in the next, where Zane (finally) tests the DED._

_TL;DR-Sorry this is late, chapters will likely be more late for the next few weeks._

_Thanks for reading! Reviews are love :)_


	12. Chapter 12

_A/N-Thanks for reading!_

* * *

_Previously…Zoe asks Carter about Jo's engagement, but gets no real answer. At Lake Archimedes, she reconnects with Pilar but is disappointed when Zane is a no-show. Until he calls and doesn't ask her out on a not-date._

* * *

Panic was not something Zane was used to experiencing. He worked well under pressure, under stress. Adrenaline rushes actually helped to focus his mind to pinpoint precision.

Right now, Zane was panicking.

Mansfield had arrived in Eureka at eight that morning, and was currently wandering around GD, inspecting other projects. Zane had ninety-four minutes until the test, to make his last-minute adjustments. He had a meeting with Lupo later, after the test, so that she could yell at him for hacking into her security system. And, oh, yeah. Half of his program had been deleted.

There weren't that many people with access to Section Five. Of the three thousand residents, about two-thirds worked at Global, and only five percent of that worked in Section Five. That was still a hundred people, but…

The culprit wasn't his biggest concern at the moment. Rewriting the program was.

Holy crap, how had this happened?

Zane had a good memory—an excellent memory—and he'd already worked out the problems once before. Once he knew how to solve something, he knew the solution, could regurgitate it easily. That wasn't the problem. It was making sure everything fit together again, plus it cut out his "last minute adjustments" time.

He was still typing furiously by the time Mansfield and Fargo strolled in. They were followed closely by Lupo and Grant. Joy.

Fargo looked mildly surprised to see him.

"Thought you went to the lake?"

Oh, and he was missing the lake. He didn't even have time to feel bad about it. "Yeah? Who told you that?"

"Someone who's totally inappropriate for you to even think of." Again with the judging. Zane was going to ignore him, until Fargo continued, "Admit it. You're just doing it to mess with her dad."

"It's just a crush. It's harmless. And yeah, maybe I'm milking it to mess with Carter a little bit. What do you care?"

"I don't want to see Zoe get hurt. For example, you told her you were going to the lake. You're not there."

"I told her I _might_ go to the lake _if_ I finished with this. And clearly—" Actually, on second thought, it might be best to not let the General in on the sabotage. He would overreact and make the situation worse. And he didn't want Grant to know that he was on to him… "Besides, this was supposed to be a closed test for you and Mansfield. None of the project workers even have to be here. But I need to finish this programming. Unless you want to blow up half of GD's electronics?"

"Fine. But if you so much as—"

"Any time now, gentlemen," Mansfield interrupted.

If anybody sounded more pompous than Fargo, it was Mansfield.

"Easy. When you're building a doomsday machine, details matter." That, and he wasn't quite done retyping.

"The DED is not a weapon," Mansfield recited in a bored tone, as though he'd had to explain this before. "It is a defensive counter-measure in case of electronic attack."

There was just so much wrong with that statement. "Whatever helps you sleep at night," Zane said. He finished the last compilation with a few discrete taps on his tablet.

"And we're ready," Fargo jumped in. He was surprisingly good at diffusing situations, sometimes. "Grab some popcorn and take a seat, General."

Zane continued to make adjustments while Fargo started the test program on the main computer. When Zane glanced at the monitor, he caught Grant and Lupo whispering over in the corner. They were standing very close together, too. He didn't like that. But at the moment he couldn't spare any concentration on them.

"Here we go! For this test, we'll be using point four power potential." Zane hurried to apply his final changes just as Fargo hit the "go" button.

The machine whirred to life, and beamed its electromagnetic waves at the circuit panel on the wall. After a few seconds, the panel powered down.

Fargo smiled wide and looked back at him. He couldn't help but reciprocate. Mission accomplished. Ten days of complete stress and flat out work, and he was finally free. They'd built something, and it worked. There was no comparable feeling in the world.

"Shutting down," Fargo said, turning off the DED. He stepped around the test glass to inspect the circuit panel, leaning in close.

This being Eureka, that was when it shot straight to hell.

Fargo was blasted backward, landing on the wrong side of the glass before sliding to the floor.

While Jo and Grant went to help Fargo to his feet, Zane went to the monitor. The readings were all over the place—none of it made sense. "Must have been some kind of transient anomaly from one of the couplings," he announced.

"An anomaly I trust will be fixed before next week's field test?"

"Good as done," Fargo struggled to say while remaining upright. Was Mansfield heartless?

"Good." Yes, yes he was.

The general turned and left the test lab without another word.

"Let's get started, then, shall we?"

* * *

Hours later, they still hadn't found anything to explain the power surge. Zane threw his tablet down on the desktop in frustration.

He'd been working on the solution mostly by himself; Fargo came back periodically to help, but he had to settle in some new interns and head Mansfield off of certain projects. Henry stopped by once, saying he'd talked to Carter and wanted to make absolute sure that nothing from the test could have caused the bridge to collapse. But he'd only affirmed his initial conclusion; the DED could not have caused the effects of the other disasters in town. And Grant had come back more than once to offer his help.

The only thing Zane could find was a slightly elevated energy level in the power coupling. But it wasn't enough to have been able to cause the malfunction. The monitors had picked up an outside signal, as well, but not the kind that would boost energy levels. He couldn't make heads or tails of it.

Finally fed up with getting nowhere, Zane decided that he'd been working on this project enough in the past week. They were no longer on such a time sensitive deadline, and he deserved a break. After all, he'd overcome every sabotage attempt that had been thrown at him, right?

He needed a break from the DED, and the saboteur, and everything. He glanced at the clock on the desktop. It was after five. He'd almost certainly missed the opportunity to meet Zoe at the lake. Would she be angry? Probably not—she was usually pretty understanding, and it hadn't been a promise. He'd said he would go if he could. But it probably wasn't earning him any brownie points either. He needed those if he hoped to get her to tell him about Jo. If he had solid evidence about Jo, he'd know more about all of them. Then he could solidify his hypotheses into theories. And with those theories, he'd know if he needed to be worried about the future of the town.

He pulled his PDA from his pocket and opened Zoe's name.

"Hello?" She answered after only two rings.

"Zoe. I'm so sorry I couldn't make it. We had a bit of a, um, incident…at the test."

"I'm so glad you called. Is everything okay?" She really was sweet, concerned for everybody.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, everybody's fine. We just had some interference. Or something. We're not sure yet."

"Oh."

"I was just calling to see if—Well, I've been working on this for more than a week solid, and I figured I deserve some time off, now that we're not on any time limits. So I thought I could make it up to you, for missing the lake? We could go catch a movie, or something."

"I'd love to."

"Great. I'll pick you up around eight? At S.A.R.A.H.?"

"Sounds good," she said, and he could barely hear it.

He hung up, and then thought back on his words. _Oh crap,_ he thought. _I just asked her out on a date, didn't I?_ That was _not_ what he'd meant to do.

* * *

Zane spent the next two hours steadfastly avoiding thinking about the implications of asking Zoe out on a date. A harmless crush was one thing, but encouraging her to go further—no. Not thinking about it. Not until his brain was recovered from DED stress and sleep deprivation.

He went to the cafeteria, picked up an apple, and carried it outside. He sat on a bench in one of the parks at the edge of the parking lot, enjoying being outside—something that hadn't happened much for him in the past week.

He didn't know how Eureka did it, but even the apples were better here. He sighed. Maybe he did want a better life for himself, and isolating himself from everybody in this perfect town wasn't the way to get it.

He heard footsteps approaching, and tensed when he saw Lupo. He'd forgotten the meeting he was supposed to have with her. But if she'd really wanted to have it, she would have come and dragged him away. She probably just wanted him to finish the DED, ASAP. Now, though, the day was over, and she was probably coming to tell him off.

However, she simply pulled out the keys to her car. When she noticed him sitting there, she gave him a small smile and—um, what? Why was she smiling at him?

She got into her car and drove off.

* * *

Zane arrived at S.A.R.A.H. at seven fifty-three, seven whole minutes early. He wasn't sure if he was nervous or simply bored because he'd refused to go back inside GD once he was out.

He descended the stairs and rang the doorbell, waiting for the automatic opening of the door. To his surprise, Lupo was the one standing in the living room. The plaid shirt she wore was unbuttoned enough to show him that she was wearing the necklace, but not enough for him to see the pendant on the end. Damn.

"Hey, Jo."

"Um, hey…" She stayed awkwardly silent for a moment. "Carter's not here," she said finally.

Did everybody think he was just trying to mess with Carter? "That's too bad." Oh well. Why ruin their expectations of him?

"Please do me a favor," she began hesitantly. She looked up at him, straight in the eyes. When she spoke, her words were small and clipped. "Be nice about it, okay? You know, love is a big deal to a girl her age."

"Uh…Okay?" What was she talking about?

But Zoe chose that moment to make her entrance, and he didn't have long to wonder about Jo's words.

"Wow, you look nice," he complimented, thinking all the while that he really, really hadn't meant for this to be a date. Zoe hugged him in greeting, and over her shoulder he looked at Jo (who was looking not at them). "Let Carter know I won't have her out too late."

Jo agreed, and he followed Zoe out of the bunker.

"So where are we going?" Zoe asked.

* * *

_A/N-Guess what, guys! I survived tech week and Cabaret! Now onto papers, presentations, and finals..._

_We are approaching the end game of this story! (But don't worry-I've got a sequel in the works whether you like it or not)._

_I'm not sure how clear it is what's going on, especially with Jo, but that's alright. I think I can clear it all up in the next few chapters. Can I just say, making this episode make sense was really hard? The people present at the DED test make no sense-Fargo, Mansfield, and Jo are justified. But Zane? And if _no_ other scientists who worked on the project are there, why is Grant allowed to just waltz in? Anyway, I hope I didn't gloss over it too much._

_I had a long and hard debate with myself about whether it's "heads or tails" or "heads nor tails." I couldn't figure out which one I use in speech, but I went with "or." I think that's how I talk. If I've got the expression wrong, please tell me. (Or any other awkward wording, syntax, etc. Because that's what I'd really like to improve on.)_

_I think it's interesting that Zoe thinks it's not a date, but wants it to be, while Zane thinks it is a date, but doesn't want it to be. I wish I had planned it that way, but I must admit the characters took over and wrote it that way for me :)_

_Once again, thanks for reading/reviewing/following. I really appreciate the time you take out of your busy (and potentially mentally draining) schedules to spend time in this fandom. Reviews make my day!_


	13. Chapter 13

_A/N - Sorry for the delay!_

* * *

_Previously…The DED program is once again sabotaged, but Zane fixes it before the test. As is expected in Eureka, the test goes awry, and Zane is now tasked with finding out why, though he is no longer on a time limit. He misses his meeting with Jo, and is confused when she doesn't react negatively. He, rather accidentally, asks Zoe on a date, in order to extract information about Jo from her. _

* * *

Zoe marveled at the picnic basket in her lap. Vincent really could do anything at the drop of a hat. The "Perfect Picnic Pack," as it was dubbed by the chef, contained everything essential to a…perfect picnic.

She picked up the blanket that was folded over the top of the basket. She briefly wondered how on earth Vince expected them to be able to sit and eat on such a small surface before remembering that this was Eureka. Sure enough, when she shook it out, the blanket unfolded several more times than expected. Maybe Zane could explain the physics of super-compression to her later. For now, though—no science. Just people.

Zane patiently held the basket while she spread the blanket on the patch of grass she'd chosen in the park just off Main Street, a few blocks from Café Diem.

She'd been relieved when he suggested they get dinner from the café instead of going to see a movie. Movies were great, but in a theater they afforded no opportunity for getting to know somebody. She'd had to talk Zane into bringing the food outside, but once Vincent heard mention of a picnic—it was difficult to say no to him, even for Zane.

He looked glad of it now, anyway. Hadn't he just spent a whole week inside?

"Let's eat," Zane said, setting the basket in the middle of the blanket.

He began pulling boxes out of the basket, each containing what Zoe was sure were fantastic versions of picnic food. As the boxes kept appearing, Zoe heard him mutter something about "carpet bags" and "TARDISes."

She reached past him and found plates, silverware, and napkins. All real, to be returned along with the basket and blanket. None of that paper and plastic stuff from Vincent.

The spread was pretty spectacular, and seemed as though it had been customized for them. Which, knowing Vincent, it probably was. They both reached for the stuffed olives first.

"No, no, after you," Zane said, relinquishing the box.

"Thanks," Zoe smiled. She took a few and handed them back.

They both piled their plates with the food—everything from tortellini salad to avocado chicken sandwiches to strawberry-rhubarb hand pies.

"What happened at the test?" Zoe asked conversationally, when it became apparent that Zane was not going to start talking without prompting.

He looked up from his plate, like he'd been so absorbed by the food he'd forgotten she was there.

"Not sure yet," he said around a mouthful of sandwich. He swallowed, and her eyes tracked the movement of his throat. She quickly moved her eyes back to his, but—too late—he'd seen. He chose to ignore it. "The system overloaded, but we don't know why. It was like an external signal interfered with the regulators, but I don't know how anything could have got past the EM shield. Doesn't matter now, though. We'll fix it tomorrow."

"As long as it doesn't cause a catastrophe," she joked. He didn't _look_ like he was worried about it. But something was definitely off. Zoe was tempted to dismiss it as not enough sleep, but that didn't seem like it. He looked relaxed, but he was staring fixedly at his food again. Something clicked in the back of her mind—that was the face he made when he was thinking really hard, working out a solution in his head.

"No, I don't think it will." He looked up and grinned. "Although now I've said that, the probability of catastrophe just went way up."

Zoe stabbed an olive with her fork. "Do you know what you'll be working on next? Or can't you tell, me, because it's so top secret."

"It's only Eureka classified, not DOD. Do you remember the Big Bang project a few years ago?"

"Honestly, I didn't pay that much attention to what was going on at GD during high school, unless it involved my dad. I was too focused on keeping up with all the geniuses in class."

"Oh, hey, Zoe. You're smart. You know that. You're a great student, and you don't need to compare yourself to other people. Back when I was a student…I wish I'd been more like you. Willing to learn, and able to understand everything. You have that, and that's important. And—between you and me—I heard about your one-eleven legacy, and you're doing just fine despite it."

Oops. She wasn't fishing for compliments, but if that was what he really thought…That was one of the great things about Zane. He didn't sugar coat things. He meant what he said, and said it directly.

And, he was paying enough attention that he knew about her dad's IQ?

"How'd you hear about that?"

"Hmm, Jo must have told me. When I was locked up, or something."

They lapsed into silence again, and Zoe saw that he had gone back to looking thoughtful.

"You're okay with Jo, right? I mean—I didn't mean to cause problems."

"No, no it's fine," he said with a laugh. But it was strained, like he wasn't fine with it at all. "She found out, actually, that I'd hacked her camera system. It was really weird. She e-mailed me yesterday, yelling at me about it, after she cut me off. She said we were going to have a meeting about it today, after the test. But then the test went wrong. I figured she wanted to have the meeting later, but then I saw her leave. She didn't even look angry. Just kind of smiled and left. Smiling Lupo is a little disconcerting."

"She's not always the Enforcer, you know. She's got feelings."

"Well, usually the ones directed at me are anger and loathing, and any smiling looks a little sadistic." He looked at her and she thought he looked almost self-conscious. "I guess I'm just a little unbalanced by real smiles. Especially since she hasn't been doing much of either kind lately."

Zoe sighed. She could get angry, that Zane was trying to wheedle answers out of her. She chose instead to accept that Zane was an eternally curious guy.

"Zane, I'm sorry, but I can't tell you."

"Picked up on that, eh? See? Plenty smart." Then, looking like a puppy dog, "Why not?"

"She just…had some personal problems."

"Why can't she talk about them? Why can't _you _tell me about them?"

"_I _can't tell you because I'm Jo's confidante, and I won't break that for anything," Zoe began with conviction. She tried to ignore the flutter in her stomach when Zane looked at her with what seemed to be pride. "And Jo can't tell you, because…I don't know. She's a very private person."

"Can you just…give me a general direction? I mean, has she stumbled upon some international secret she has to keep? Or did something happen to her family? They're all military, right?"

"No. She was…having some guy troubles."

Zane's reaction was not what Zoe would have expected. Instead of laughing it off as the most absurd reason for Lupo of all people to be moping, he was thoughtful again. He almost looked worried.

"Guys? But in the whole time I've been here, she's never—" He cut the sentence short, and closed his mouth to a thin line. He reminded Zoe of Hagrid from Harry Potter, saying, "I shouldn't have said that." But there was nothing from the sentence that Zoe could find that was incriminating. Maybe he was realizing just how much he had missed when it came to Jo Lupo.

"So, what are your plans for this semester?" he asked suddenly. And because he looked so relaxed when she began explaining her new course load, Zoe chose to ignore the abrupt change in subject.

* * *

"How did it go?" Jo asked, twisting sideways to look over the back of the couch at Zoe, who stood in S.A.R.A.H.'s doorway.

Zoe was practically skipping. She'd been right—it wasn't a date, and it hadn't ended with a kiss, but she'd had a great time. Zane had looked like he'd enjoyed himself, too, once they got past the awkward part about Jo.

"You didn't have to wait up for me," Zoe said, crossing to the couch and settling next to Jo.

"And miss post-date girl talk?"

"I just thought, with all the…you know," Zoe said, looking down and arranging the skirt of her dress around her.

Jo looked at her. "I have to get over it. Everybody keeps telling me so. I can't sit around and cry forever, now, can I?"

"I suppose," Zoe said doubtfully.

"What better way than to hear about my girl's big date?"

Zoe playfully shoved her on the arm. "It wasn't a date."

"No?"

"But it was great. We went to Café Diem, and Vincent gave us a picnic…" And she was off, explaining to Jo how amazing her night had been.

It was almost like old times.

* * *

_A/N - Good news: I'm done with finals etc. and now have actual time to write :)_

_Bad news: I lied. We didn't quite reach the endgame yet, but soon._

_I forgot that I was going to have to write this chapter, and then I got a mild case of writer's block because I just couldn't get as into this date as Zoe needed to be. Ah, well..._

_Anyway, Olive Theory, anyone?_

_I hope you're all still with me :)_

_Thanks for reading! (Reviews are most welcome, please and thank you)._


	14. Chapter 14

_A/N - Thanks for reading! Welcome to Chapter 14, aka _The Ex-Files_ Day 2._

* * *

_Previously…Zane and Zoe have a picnic in the park. Zoe tells Zane that Jo had guy problems, but refused to give any more details. They have a wonderful "not-date" which Zoe tells Jo about later that night._

* * *

"Zane!"

Zane whipped around when he heard his name. His eyes centered on Henry, who was jogging toward him across the rotunda, data pad in hand.

"Glad you're here. I need your help," said Henry. Though he retained his usual calm demeanor, something told Zane the town's mayor was more than a little bit worried.

"Uh, sure. I'm supposed to be fixing the DED, but that can probably wait until later—"

"That's what I need your help with. We figured out, um, some of the problem. Some kind of oscillation device is causing objects to resonate at their own frequencies. That's what got the Da Vinci Bridge and Carter's jeep. It hit my garage a little while ago, too, and it's been hitting places around here for the past hour."

"_That's _not good."

"No, it's not." Henry looked thoughtful for a moment, and then snapped back to attention. "C'mon. We're going to find whatever is causing the resonance events. Carter and Allison think it's an experiment here."

Zane followed him to the DED test chamber, where the computers had been given access to experiment records.

"Whoa, that wasn't there yesterday," Zane said when he noticed the energy levels of the DED. "That's up twenty percent."

"And it's still climbing," Henry said absently while he pulled up some files. "We think the oscillation device was triggered by the DED yesterday, and this extra energy is an effect of that resonance, so if we find the experiment…"

"We can stop the charge build-up. Gotcha."

They spent an hour combing through current experiments with no luck. Nothing mentioned oscillations, from orbitals to acoustics. There were hardly any acoustic projects running at all, anyway. Just a few communication systems, but they were all still in the theoretical stages.

Henry had just finished the Section Five files when Fargo walked in.

"Any luck?"

"Well, if that oscillator is in GD, it is definitely _not_ in Section Five," Henry told him.

"Then we have to keep looking," Fargo said, before flinching as another wire in the DED sparked with built-up energy. Zane ignored the mini breakdown his boss seemed to be having.

"Banner day," he said sarcastically. "We don't know why energy is building in the DED weapon or what it's affecting to cause the resonance events."

Fargo flinched at nothing, but then came around to Henry's side of the monitors. "We might be able to erect a damping field to contain the electromagnetic radiation."

Surprised at the competent suggestion, Zane said, "Yeah, it could stop the resonance events. Buy us some time until we figure out how to fix the weapon."

"But we may have a bigger problem," Henry said, looking at the DED monitor again. "The charge in the power cells is reaching critical."

"If this thing blows it'll send off an electromagnetic pulse that'll take out GD," Zane said, though he was sure the other two in the room understood the implications. "So, do we try to dissipate the charge or stop the resonance first?"

"That is such a chicken-egg question," said Fargo.

"Resonance," Henry said suddenly. "Hopefully, if a damping field can…dampen that, the charge will stop building, at least. Like you said, Zane. We just need to buy ourselves some time."

* * *

Forty-five minutes later, they had a MacGyvered damping field, built from a local EM field from a lab in Section Three, and modified to fit their specifications.

Zane pressed the button with relish. This project was really starting to be more trouble than it was worth. He watched the light indicators of the field drop into place and announced, "Damping field is operational."

Zane looked down at the monitors along with Fargo and Grant. He wished Henry was still in the room, instead of the historian. The way he was hanging around for all the tests and procedures was putting Zane more and more on edge. Unfortunately, Henry had left to search more thoroughly for the oscillator.

"That's weird," said Fargo. "The energy build-up is starting to dissipate."

Zane looked at him. "Maybe that's good."

"Yeah, I know, but that doesn't make any sense. The only thing a damping field should do is—" he was cut off by another resonance related spark, "—stop that from happening."

Zane sighed. So much for MacGyver. He picked up a data pad and followed Fargo to inspect the new damage to the DED.

"What do you think?" Fargo asked. He bent over and peered into the mouth of the device.

"It looks like another coupling, here," Zane pointed first to a place on the electronic blueprints, and then to its actual location, "got fried. If many more of these go, it won't matter how much resonance we keep out. It won't take much to overload it."

"Got any ideas?"

"Not really, no."

"Can you see the power cells? No? Um…Try scanning them. The last thing we need are hidden surprises."

Zane (following directions quite well, he thought,) pulled the scanner from the data pad and moved it in front of the device's shielding. He looked at the pad. "Nothing seems out of the ordinary."

"This just doesn't make any sense." Fargo looked over his shoulder at the readout. "The levels are completely fine. What are we looking for?"

Of course, because Fargo said it was fine, another resonance event took that moment to hit, knocking out the damping field and the computers monitoring it. Zane and Fargo turned just in time to see Grant thrown backward.

Fargo raced back to help him, and Henry came running through the door.

"What happened?"

"Another resonance event," Fargo explained. "It knocked out the damping field. You're lucky to be alive," he added to the now standing Dr. Grant.

Zane ran the scanner across the front of the DED. "The charge in the power cells is building again," he warned in a raised voice to carry over the "Are you okay?"s Grant was getting. All three joined him in front of the device.

"Then we have to reinitiate the field," said Grant. _No duh,_ Zane wanted to say, but he refrained.

"Yeah, no, we can't. The whole system's fried," said the ever more anxious Fargo.

Henry sent Grant to the infirmary, who agreed quietly without adding any more suggestions for fixing the problem.

Then Zane's day got a whole lot worse.

Mansfield marched in, telling his men behind him, "Pack it up. I want it on a truck in ten minutes."

Zane looked up, ready to fight, but to his surprise Fargo beat him to it.

"Whoa, wait. What are you doing?" said the dictator.

"I'm getting the DED out of here. I will not risk losing every project in here if an electromagnetic pulse goes off."

"General Mansfield," Henry began to explain, though his tone lacked its usual patience and understanding, "it's oscillating at its own natural frequency. Unless we find the device that's responsible, it doesn't matter where you take it."

"We have to scrub it. There's a disposal unit in Section—"

"You have your orders," said the General, and then he turned on his heel and left.

Zane stared after him. Was he insane? Or just stupid?

He watched helplessly as the two MPs began to "pack up" the device for transport. Movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he turned to see Fargo pace for a few minutes, then rage out of the room. He looked up at Henry, who shrugged.

"We tried," Henry said gently, all of his normal overtones returned. Zane found that oddly comforting.

With nothing else to do, Zane returned to the DED lab, number 742, and sat at his station to try to muscle out a solution. He pulled his laptop out from behind the other screens and opened it. He was greeted with two static filled windows—the two camera feeds that had been cut off. In all the excitement, he'd almost forgotten about the saboteur.

Was that why they couldn't find the oscillator? Because it was deliberately being used to try to cause an EMP that would take out GD?

He _had_ to find the saboteur. And he knew where to start.

* * *

Several hours later, and reports had come in that the DED transport truck had been ambushed, and the weapon itself was gone. Stolen.

The day just kept getting better and better.

However, Zane had finally managed to hack his way back into the personnel files, and had printed copies of all of Grant's records. He went through and circled, underlined, highlighted every example of forgery in them. Taken all together, Grant read like a textbook. The last time he tried to take these to Lupo, she'd brushed him off. But she couldn't ignore it now.

She was on the phone with her second in command when he arrived in her office.

"Okay, things don't just disappear into thin air. Extend the perimeter and keep me updated." She angrily hung up on the call and turned back to her desk. When she saw him, she startled. "Will you _stop_ doing that?"

"Doing what?" He didn't give her time to answer. "I just need to talk to you about something."

"Oh, what is it now? You want to tell me how nice my ass looks when I'm holding a gun?" Wow, where did that come from? They'd been getting along lately, at least he'd thought.

Oh well. Looked like his good behavior streak was over. "Well, I mean, you do have a nice ass."

He was utterly unprepared for the reaction that got. After all, she started it.

"Okay, fine. You want to have it out? Okay. The truth is I have been romanticizing our relationship this entire time. You know, there was a reason I hesitated, and now I know what it is."

What the hell was she talking about?

She looked him straight in the eyes. "You and I? We don't fit. So I'm over it. I'm over us."

If he'd had any idea what she was talking about, he might have been balanced enough to notice the way she was smiling, like that smile was holding back tears.

"If you want to hang out with Zoe—" and then she was pulling the necklace out from under her shirt, unfastening it, pulling the pendant off the end, "—go ahead. I'm done."

She threw it at him.

He was so surprised he fumbled for a second, before getting a solid grip and holding it up between them. He stared.

He'd seen this ring before. Countless times. Had dreams about it, even.

"What are you doing with my grandmother's ring, Jo?"

It was like his brain shut down. He knew Carter came into the room and told him he was being accused of stealing the DED. He knew he made a few hasty objections. He knew he pulled the envelope with Grant's file out of his pocket and threw it on Lupo's desk. He knew he told her to look at it. He knew the last thing he saw before Carter pulled him out of the office was Lupo, dropping heavily into her chair, releasing a steady breath as real, actual tears left her eyes.

What he didn't know was why she had his ring.

* * *

_A/N - If you have something you'd like Zoe to do at this point, now would be an _excellent_ time to share, because while I gave Zane a B-plot (which pretty much just became the A-plot) I neglected to give one to Zoe, and I don't have all that much for her to do in the next chapter. But I want to keep my structure. So, suggestions - PM, review, whatever. I'm happy to take them into consideration! (aka, please, help bail me out)._

_I know this was really episode heavy. Thanks for reading it anyway :)_


	15. Chapter 15

_A/N - Welcome to _The Ex-Files_ Day 2, Zoe's Day._

* * *

_Previously…Zane and Zoe have a picnic date/not date in the park (See Ch. 13 for Zoe's POV and the separate story _When He's Playing All His Games _for Zane's). The next day, despite the GD team's best efforts, the DED continues to malfunction and Mansfield orders its transportation out of Eureka. En route, it is stolen. Meanwhile, Zane does some research on Grant, and Jo throws her engagement ring—his grandmother's ring—at him, proclaiming herself "over it."_

* * *

"Pilar, I swear, if you ask me one more time, I'll…"

"You'll what, Zoe?" Pilar tossed the handful of grass she'd been pulling at Zoe's head. "You'll start gushing again?"

"It's so different, you know? Than it was with Lucas. Because he's so… He knows what he's doing. And Lucas had this quiet confidence going on, but he had no idea what he was doing."

Zoe began pulling blades of grass out of her hair, staring absently at the bright afternoon sky above them. When wind of Zoe's date had reached Pilar's ears, she'd demanded they meet so she could be told all the details. Now they lay in the grass in the park, passing the time as old friends do.

"'Quiet confidence?'" Pilar asked.

"Yeah, like when he first asked me out. He basically told me I was trapping myself by not thinking outside the box – by not seeing past the stereotypes. The way he said it, he was so sure of himself, in a way that defied the box I'd put him in. So he was right, I had judged him, but he did it a lot, too. I mean, really, can you imagine me doing robotics for the rest of my life?" She turned her head to look at Pilar, who scoffed.

"No way. You're too much of a people person for that. This medical degree fits you a lot better."

"Also, Zane's not petrified of my dad." They shared a giggle.

"For a while Lucas was willing to do whatever the Sheriff told him to, wasn't he?"

"Yeah…" Zoe sobered. "Despite calling him hair-boy, I think my dad preferred Lucas to Zane."

"Well, yeah, because Lucas did what he told him to. Zane's never done anything _any_body told him to."

"See, but that's just it. That's another box." She put on a mocking tone. "'Oh, he's the town bad boy, he must be totally anti-authoritarian.'"

Pilar gave her a look.

"Okay, I'm not saying he's not, but that's not all he is. And I think there's something else that my dad's not telling me. I just wish I knew what it was."

"Maybe it's because he's so much older than you?" Pilar suggested.

Normally that would have earned her a swat to the shoulder, but Zoe just kept staring at the sky. "No, I asked him. He said it was more complicated than that. Whatever that means."

"Now, when you say he knows what he's doing, does that mean—"

"Hey, what did I tell you?" This time Zoe did shove her friend's arm. "Stop asking. Nothing happened. It was an amazing date, he took me home—_to_ _S.A.R.A.H_.—and that was it. End of story."

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks. You're denying it _pretty_ hard."

"Because it's the truth!"

They lapsed into silence again.

Finally, Pilar said, "So, what happens when you go back to school in a few days?"

Zoe sat up. "I don't know," she said honestly. She wrapped her arms around her knees. "We talked on the holoSkype a few times while he was tutoring me. We'll keep doing that, I guess."

Pilar sat up as well, nodding in agreement. "That's a good idea."

"Have you ever had a long distance relationship?"

"Zoe, I've never even been out of the state."

"That's not true. You went to Greece last year. And New Caledonia the year before that. And—"

"Okay, okay, I exaggerated a little bit. But all of those were week-long research trips for my parents. Not enough time to start a relationship. So, to answer your question; No."

"Then I officially have no role models in this. Jo was no help, and my dad broke up with Tess after, like, a year, for no apparent reason!" Zoe groaned in frustration, and fell back into the depression she'd made in the grass.

"I bet you guys can make it work," Pilar said encouragingly. "_We_ manage to stay in touch."

"You're right. But we've been friends a long time, and Zane and I are just starting, and…I don't know. I don't want to end up like my dad, after he broke up with Tess. You should have seen him."

"Have you talked to Zane about this? Maybe you should tell—Do you hear music?" Pilar sat up straight.

Zoe looked around, then spotted the truck on the road at the opposite end of the park. She pointed. Pilar followed her line of sight and broke into a grin. "That is _just_ what we need. Race you?"

They looked at each other for a second, before they both jumped to their feet and sprinted toward Eureka's ice cream truck.

* * *

After a relaxing day of hanging out with Pilar, Zoe was sitting on the couch in S.A.R.A.H. watching TV. She needed to get her mind off boys and school for a while.

"Dr. Blake is at the door," S.A.R.A.H. announced.

Zoe stood and flipped the screen off, saying, "Let her in."

The door unsealed with a hiss and swung in. Allison Blake walked in.

"Hey, Zoe," she greeted. "Is your dad back yet? I need to talk to him."

"No, he's not here. Back from what?"

Allison suddenly looked uncomfortable. "He had to arrest Zane," she started.

"What!"

"I don't know if you heard, but earlier today the DED was stolen."

"The DED… is that the project Zane was working on for Fargo?"

"Yes. After continually failing tests, it looked like it was going to cause major problems throughout the rest of GD. General Mansfield ordered it's transport away from the facility. By the time we realized something else was causing it to malfunction, it was already too late. The transport vehicle was ambushed, and the device was stolen. Jo told us—"

"Jo was there?" Zoe interrupted. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine. She told us the set-up looked like it had been planned for days. Stealing the DED was the plan all along."

"What does this have to do with Zane?"

"While they were trying to stop the resonance events affecting the DED, somebody used a security code to disable the shielding around it. And when we found the machine creating the resonance, Fargo recognized the design specs." She tried to look calm and comforting, but Zoe wasn't buying it. Why did everybody have it out for Zane?

"Zane would never do something like that," she said. She heard the door open and her father come in, but continued to look at Allison, demanding answers.

"Honey, they were his designs. Between that and the security code, the evidence was overwhelming."

Two pieces of evidence was overwhelming? Fed up, Zoe turned on her heel. "I don't care." She finally acknowledged her father, saying, "Congratulations, you got what you wanted," as she swept out the door.

She heard him say, "I didn't get what I wanted—what, Zane?" before the door closed.

She made her way into town, heading straight for the Sheriff's office. She was relieved when the door was unlocked—it hadn't occurred to her until her hand was on the doorknob that her dad might have locked it. But no, Andy was still here, doing something at the deputy's desk.

Zane was in the cell, stretched out on his back with his head on his pillow. He was staring at the ceiling.

"Zane!" she said, more loudly than necessary. Andy looked up at her, but decided, based on the look on her face, that she was best left alone.

Zane turned his head, then sat up when he saw her. He grinned sheepishly, patting the pillow beside him. "Haven't had to use this for a while."

"I can't believe…I mean, how could they…I just…Rrrgh!" Zoe allowed herself a moment to vent. "This isn't right!"

"Relax, Zoe. They'll figure out that I wasn't involved tomorrow. Actually, I'm pretty sure your dad already thinks I'm innocent. He thinks I'm being set up. Something about me being the perfect fall guy, you know, 'cause of my record and all."

"He knows you're innocent and he left you in here?"

"Well, right now the evidence still supports the accusation. They'll let me out when they can."

"Why are you so Zen about this? If it were me, I'd be furious." She couldn't deny that his calm demeanor was lessening her anger, though.

"I figure, why worry? It won't get me out any faster. Besides, Robot Man's watching out for me, right, Andy?"

"You got it, Zane," Andy said in his ever-cheerful tone without looking up.

"Hey, Zoe, I appreciate you coming by, but I'm kind of tired. Interrogation really takes it out of you."

She eyed him doubtfully. It looked like there was more to it than he was saying. Finally, she let it go, and said, "Sure. I hope you get cleared soon."

"Thanks."

She'd wanted to ask him his thoughts about long distance, but seeing him behind bars with his mind elsewhere told her now wasn't the time. She left him on the cot, wondering what would happen if they _didn't_ find the real culprit.

* * *

_A/N - I'm really sorry for disappearing off the face of the planet :/_

_Thanks for reading!_


	16. Chapter 16

_A/N - The Ex-Files, Day 2 and I'll Be Seeing You_

* * *

_Previously…Zoe discusses the problems associated with long distance relationships with Pilar, but not Zane. She is furious when Carter arrests Zane—for something he knows Zane didn't do. Zane is uncharacteristically calm about the whole situation. Zoe worries that he will be sent back to prison if they don't find the real thief of the DED._

* * *

Zane listened to the clacking of the keyboard as Andy kept up a steady rhythm of keystrokes. He'd been laying there for several hours now, trying to let his brain recuperate enough to put all the puzzle pieces he was sure he had together.

Carter had interrogated him for an hour about various aspects of the DED, its theft, and all of the evidence that pointed to him. He'd been in the middle of reviewing all those questions (and concluding that Carter thought he was innocent), when Zoe came in in a rage.

He couldn't work up enough energy to be furious on his own behalf, but Zoe had seemed to have enough anger for the both of them. It was nice of her to visit him—probably the nicest thing anybody'd ever done for him in Eureka—but he had too much on his mind to hold a proper conversation. In fact, it was a testament to how comfortable he now felt with her that he didn't have to concentrate quite so hard to listen to what she was saying.

Now that she was gone, though, the image that hadn't been far from the foreground of his thoughts all evening resurfaced. His grandmother's ring, on a necklace around Jo Lupo's neck.

He started with the practical questions—his mind could usually handle those. He wanted to focus on Grant, as well, because there was a definite time limit on finding the DED before it was sold on the black market or something. How did she get the ring? How did Grant get the access he had? Did she steal it? Who wanted the DED? Who _knew_ about the DED? She probably didn't steal it. Little Miss Authority wasn't known for breaking laws. Grant _must_ have had outside help. Did somebody _else_ steal it and give it to her? If she was engaged, why didn't anybody know? Why had Grant betrayed Eureka? Why did she wear it around her neck?

He was dangerously close to the non-practical questions. The emotional ones. _Why_ did Lupo have his ring? _Who _was Grant really? His _grandmother's _ring.

That thought that had been fighting its way to the surface for months was coming back to him. He'd been suppressing it, because he couldn't make sense of it. But—the image of Jo's face when she'd rushed, breathless, into the Sheriff's Office and said yes, yes she _would _marry him. The look of devastation when he'd brushed her off.

She hadn't been kidding.

For the first few days after that, she'd repeatedly called him "babe," and after that it was Zane. It took more than a week for her to go back to Donovan, and even then it sounded wrong. It sounded like she had to consciously make herself call him that, and she hated doing it.

She had wanted to _marry_ him.

Before all this started, he'd have called it a cold day in hell, but now…

_Why _and _how,_ two questions he'd dedicated his life to finding the answers to. Now he was seeing them in a whole new light.

* * *

"Carter," Zane began as soon as the man walked into the office. He'd decided, last night, after many sleepless hours, that the DED had to be dealt with first because, no matter how he felt about the other situation, world domination came first. He was a little taken aback when Lupo followed Carter in, but he had to get through this. Andy joined them in front of his cell. "I've been thinking about how things played out. It's Grant. Something's not right. And not just with you, Lupo," he added, looking at her, "but your crazy can wait."

She looked uncomfortable.

"What would Dr. Grant have to gain by being involved in this?" asked Andy.

"All I know is the guy's GD profile looked doctored to me. And he was alone in the control room when that containment field around the DED weapon failed." They all looked at each other uncertainly. Hadn't they read the file he'd given to Lupo? "Come on, someone must have hacked my personnel file and stolen my pass code."

The sheriff nodded and said, "Andy, get him down here."

"You got it boss. Dialing." Andy put his finger to his ear. When he noticed their odd looks, he explained, "My last PDA caused me to burst into flames. So, now that I'm seeing S.A.R.A.H. I have taken steps to be more cautious. She's one heck of a house."

Fascinating though AI chemistry was, Zane was watching Lupo react to all this news. She looked like she agreed with Carter, which was good, because Carter looked ready to believe that it was Grant, not Zane, who had been messing with the DED.

She leaned toward Carter and said, "I haven't seen him since last night."

"I'm afraid he's not answering," Andy informed them.

"We're going to have to find out who else Grant knows," said Carter.

Andy lowered his voice and said delicately, "Given his unique circumstance of past employment in Eureka, Dr. Grant's file would be stored in GD archives."

"Well then let's get some history on our town historian. Andy, watch him." He started to leave.

"Hey, Lupo?" Zane called, and she turned back to look at him. "When this is all over, we're gonna talk about that ring."

She stared, like a deer in the headlights for a split second, then left, saying "Keep an eye on him, Andy," on the way out.

Andy lowered his smile and gave him a stern glare. Coming from the perpetually grinning deputy, it was disconcerting.

"What?" Zane asked, but Andy just kept glaring.

Zane went back to the cot, adding in the few bits of information he'd learned. One, Andy was in on whatever _it_ was. Two, Jo and Carter were clearly not as loyal to Grant as he'd originally thought. Were they really different people? Where had they come from, and where were the Carter and Lupo and others he'd known? Possibilities of alternate universes and evil clones crossed his mind, all as unlikely as the next. But, then again, this was Eureka. Anything was possible.

* * *

"Mr. Donovan, you're free to go. Andy?" Lupo said as she stood from her desk, rearranging several files. She'd just finished explaining why he was free, and he'd dutifully listened. He hadn't fidgeted, interrupted, or blurted out any of his theories on just who he thought she was.

Andy approached and unlocked the door. "Sorry for the inconvenience, Mr. Donovan. The evidence _was_ overwhelming."

Zane shut the door to the cell behind him. "Well, you can relax, because I'm not going to sue you."

"Glad to see the experience hasn't hardened you. Thanks for your help." Sarcasm _and _trying to escape? He didn't think so.

"Hang on, you're not getting off that easy, Lupo." He followed her out into the small reception area. "I'm not stupid," he started, and she rolled her eyes. But at least she'd stopped and was listening. "I know something's happened with the five of you, and part of it had to do with us."

"Zane, let it go. Grant's been cleared and so have you." She tried to keep her voice light and unconcerned, but wasn't quite pulling it off.

"I'm not talking about Grant." He took a breath, and said what he'd been waiting almost twenty-four hours to say. "You had my grandmother's engagement ring, Jo. Come on. Tell me what we were to each other." If he could just get her to say it, to admit to it, it might be real.

She opened and closed her mouth several times, and he could see the argument she was having with herself. Finally, she smiled and said, "Nothing."

She was a horrible liar.

"I gotta go," she said, and made for the door, again. Running away, again. Not the Jo Lupo he knew.

It wasn't so much a planned thing as an I-must-do-anything-to-stop-her-from-leaving-right- now thing. He tugged on her elbow and pulled her into a kiss. His first thought was that she responded, started kissing him back, very quickly. Then he was lost in the feel of the kiss, which, if he were to go so far as to describe it, he'd call perfect.

When she started to pull away, his lips chased hers until he realized she was actually pulling away. He came back to himself and realized, "Then why didn't that feel like a first kiss?" Case in point, right?

She defiantly met his eyes.

The office door slammed open and Zoe walked in. Suddenly Jo was staring through him, instead of at him.

"Zane, hey. I just heard the good news," Zoe greeted. She wrapped her arms around his neck. "We should go out and celebrate. Jo, do you want to come?"

"No, no, no, no, no." Wow, that was a lot of no's. "You two go ahead. I'll see you tomorrow." She left the office, and Zoe didn't notice his eyes follow her out.

"Where to?" he asked. Hell. That's where he was going. To hell.

* * *

_A/N - Thanks for reading!_


End file.
